We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Atllas Hopkins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Atllas below.

Atllas, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

A lot of my professional endeavors have all started off the same, from my philanthropic work to my design career. I first define what the need, purpose and function is. With goals as grandiose as mine with a desire to impact the world as greatly as I envision , I believe that everything I do has to be intentional, well thought out and then calculated. So after initial conception I spend a great amount of time planing and strategizing and once that is established it is simply a matter of doing it and executing what it is designed. So the next days consist of networking and sourcing outside opinions. Through that I open the door to finding potential collaborators, investors and clients while also further developing the idea. From then on its all a matter of building and frequent adaptations and innovations to the plan. I pride myself in the work I do and and conscious of the influence that I hold; so I will never pursue a vision and take action with half effort . So I spend a lot of time establishing my foundation and everything else needed to be successful before I start the process of promotion and action. Through my experience, I’ve learned there is a plethora of external factors that influence my reality and, as a result, not everything will go as planned or be as effective as I initially believed so its my job to be diligent and attentive to ensure that regardless of circumstance, I succeed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started my professional career off at 18 in my freshman year of college working as an architectural intern . The following year I founded the worlds first all African American youth philanthropic nonprofit, Students Engaged in Ethical Donation (SEED Philanthropy). Recently, I graduated with my bachelors degree in architecture and am currently pursuing my masters and have began the process of establishing my own design house “SOULJAISM”, specializing in affordable luxury apparel and sustainable, affordable, architectural design. Theres plenty more I do and am involved in in my day to day, but as I’ve started my life of young adulthood, I believe its more important to champion and highlight the ideas of my own more than the ideas of others that i contribute to in every opportunity I can.

What sets me apart, above all, in the fields of philanthropy, fashion and architectural design is my desire. Everyone has ideas, but not everyone takes the time to develop it, within that group not everyone takes the time to start it, within that group not everyone takes the time to properly maintain or grow it and within that group not everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Outside of having a vision and thriving off of my creativity, I give 120% effort into ensuring that whatever I am apart of or have developed succeeds and reaches the heights intended.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I believe my story in itself is a story of resilience. For majority of my life, even to this day, my biggest support system has been my family. They’ve always been able to provide me sound advice, connect me with the right resources and have always made sure I’m taking care of my overall wellbeing. They have always been supportive of my vision and me pursuing whatever it is I want out of this life; they see first hand the countless hours I spend harnessing my craft and concentrating my potential, and a lot of those hours are spent alone, where its easy to be hyper critical of yourself and the most vulnerable you are to self doubt. But through all of that, and whatever challenges that may be in my way at the time, I have always been and will always be able to overcome it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

In the later half of my undergraduate studies, I began doing freelance design work and consulting. Initially it started with doing small projects and revisions but over time I started to develop a sound portfolio and started to do a lot of commissioned conceptual design work for a few sizable projects, independently. It has always been a thought of mine since my sophomore year of high school but at the end of my senior year of undergraduate studies, a few months ago, I decided to pursue establishing my own in-house design firm later relatively early on in my career. A few milestones so far have been establishing as the firm “SOULJAISM” as an LLC and developing the fashion design aspect of it, as planned.

Contact Info:

• Website: souljaism.com
• Instagram: seedphilanthropy, souljaism_
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atllas-hopkins-474056159/