We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bryan “Nappy” Vereen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Bryan “Nappy” , appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Risks are taken everyday especially when it comes to being an entrepreneur and being vulnerable, but yet so brave enough to take that leap of faith and let your ideas turn into creations that can be held. A risk I’ve taken I would say is telling people my goals, dreams, inventions, or ideas because most people aren’t optimistic or open minded enough to see it or to even go through with theirs. Some people you can tell something that gets you so amped up, but they’ll hear it and try to convince you on the reasons why your business or ideas won’t work without even trying it themselves. A risk would also be showing people all sides of me from the humor, seriousness, ambitious, stubborn sides, etc. It’s a risk because people are so quick to judge and when you are so convinced to separate personal from business it can be a hassle because most of the time your business will get a review from the way that they think about you, but a person would hardly ever get a review for being themselves outside of the business field. It was a risk just being different. It’s a risk when you don’t know if you will make up for the money spent on something such as a billboard and if people will even pay attention to what is being advertised. It’s a risk putting out a documentary and being so completely honest within it that some people may use it against you. It was a risk wearing, sharing, and promoting my clothing line and wondering what people really thought about the designs. People judge everyday and that’s the mindset you have to be very aware of when it comes to putting yourself out there like that, but it’s better to risk and take a chance than to always have that “What If” factor and not knowing if it could be an impactful thing or not. A risk to me is more about what the consumer thinks or expects and you have to be open to constructive criticism.

Bryan “Nappy” , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Bryan “Nappy” Vereen and I am from a college town in Kansas called Manhattan, Kansas aka The Little Apple aka Wild City, Kanziss. I am a bodybuilder, author, motivational speaker, fitness apparel owner, and rapper. I was born and raised in Manhattan aka Wild City and I’ve always had big dreams. I’ve always invested my time and energy into something that’s going to make me feel better about myself and to be a positive person. I have been featured front page of my hometown’s newspaper “The Manhattan Mercury” for being a positive role model, walking around town with my dumbbells, and encouraging people to always strive to realitize their dreams and to never give up. I have also been in a few videos that have gone viral. I have a clothing brand called “Versuhtyle Fitness.” I have over 30 books, my first children’s book “I Found A Bat,” & “I Am The DumbBell Kid,” are about to be released soon. I have a documentary on the way titled “The King Of Wild City.” I am always putting out motivational videos on my YouTube, InstaGram, and TikTok. I am one of the most motivated people you will ever come across and that’s been said by many people that have known me for years or that have recently met me. I always like to push my mind and body to the test as life is boring without challenges and we have to be constantly reminded of how far we have come and how much further we can go. Being from Kansas I’ve always looked at the big cities as a place of opportunity when I was younger, but now in this age of technology opportunity can be made just about anywhere. For my kids I know that the best examples are set by not only saying it, but by also doing it. Every day is training day and eventually if you stay consistent you can get whatever it is that you want. B.R.Y.A.N.=Brilliant, Resilient, Young, Ambitious, Naturalist. Realitize your uniqueness don’t be afraid to be “weird” because I see “weird” as unique and you being the most authentic original shameless version of yourself that doesn’t care to fit in as it is up to us to either conform or confirm. Conform to society and be depressed because you don’t feel comfortable enough to be yourself and to express yourself or you can confirm who you are and be happy and thankful for your experiences and expertise that can be shared, shown, and appreciated.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The best advice I can give for clientele from personal experience is to utilize social media. Networking is even easier than before and with the power of technology and our smartphones or laptops people that are even so far away in distance are closer than ever due to phones. Be creative, be original, and be yourself because you are competing with not only yourself, but you are competing against big brand names along with smaller names that want the same thing that you want. Make yourself available to people too! It’s great to be in public and have people actually see you in person because you can be admired and a public appearance and people actually getting to see the person that is coming up with unique things is what people like to see. Take pictures with people, encourage people, let them know that you aren’t a person that’s never too good to be out and about to meet new people and see new faces that probably couldn’t wait to see you! Don’t be afraid to be a conversation starter and letting your story be heard.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have so many stories of resilience along this journey. Just balancing the time to make my creations come to life is a time consuming challenge especially when you have kids and work a full time job. You have to learn the importance of assets and liabilities when it comes to things like that as well. Growing up as the only boy and being the oldest out of 4 younger sisters and a single parent mom that’s an alcoholic with bipolar paranoid schizophrenia can make you question a lot about life. You can either hate life and yourself and not feel confident or loved or you can pick yourself up and know that you have to love yourself enough to never give up and to make something out of your life with all of the great things that keep you wanting to live. If it wasn’t for weights, music, and all of these creative ideas and images I think of it would be a different story for me. There weren’t many people that believed me and there were lots of people that thought I was “Frazy”(that’s my ebono slango word). The best way to get people to understand you is through action and that’s one thing I’ve always taken. Excuses can’t be made and time should not be wasted. I’ve been through some break ups, I’ve had my oldest 2 kids taken from me states away to live with their moms side of the family, I’ve been homeless, I’ve paid so much money in child support that for a while my bank account with go into the negatives, I had to move back with my mom at age 27, I had grand mol seizures, etc. The list can go on, but the fact that I have always seen better for me through my imagination is what kept me sane. I always knew that if I PROtinued to move in a positive way and to know that my life is going to be excellent as long as I continue to do excellent things than that’s what I’m going to get. The power of the mind is beyond so many people’s belief. Everything once started off as a thought and to see what I have accumulated to this day is amazing, but to even think about what else I can accumulate is going to be emaculate. Tough times really show you how badly you want something. I knew that I would get through epilepsy because I could not accept it so I did something about it. Even through so much drama I graduated from college because that would be the reward to myself from all of the years of frustration and just knowing that I had to set a better example. People think I am frazy mentally and physically. I have 4 skin brands and getting those was a mindset thing as well. Some people would rather run away from their problems not even knowing that you will always have problems so just face them and get ready to be better for when the next ones comes. Resilience dealing with not getting the support you thought you would from your friends and family, but getting through with those same people asking you for money, but never offering you any help. Resilience is trying to find people that are willing to help and be patient and that can see the empire you are trying to build from the passion you speak and the actions you put behind it. Resilience is continuing with promoting and sharing your books, clothes, music, and videos. Resilience gives you that motivation to push harder. The brief thought of failure is what motivates. Knowing that if and when things take longer than expected you have to pick yourself up and be your own motivational speaker, your own parent, your own influencer, your own coach, your own boss, etc. To continue to take risks shows your resilience and how badly you want something as those L’s are lessons not losses. Learning is limitless and you have to “live a lottle!” You can change so many lives and inspire so many people by just yourself taking that leap of faith and making things happen to show others that may be scared to go after the things they want in life that it’s OK to be scared, but you’ll learn along the way. You have to make use of what’s God given and earned. No fake excuse, face the truth, and taste the proof. Asiago!!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The best advice I can give for clientele from personal experience is to utilize social media. Networking is even easier than before and with the power of technology and our smartphones or laptops people that are even so far away in distance are closer than ever due to phones. Be creative, be original, and be yourself because you are competing with not only yourself, but you are competing against big brand names along with smaller names that want the same thing that you want. Make yourself available to people too! It’s great to be in public and have people actually see you in person because you can be admired and a public appearance and people actually getting to see the person that is coming up with unique things is what people like to see. Take pictures with people, encourage people, let them know that you aren’t a person that’s never too good to be out and about to meet new people and see new faces that probably couldn’t wait to see you! Don’t be afraid to be a conversation starter and letting your story be heard.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have so many stories of resilience along this journey. Just balancing the time to make my creations come to life is a time consuming challenge especially when you have kids and work a full time job. You have to learn the importance of assets and liabilities when it comes to things like that as well. Growing up as the only boy and being the oldest out of 4 younger sisters and a single parent mom that’s an alcoholic with bipolar paranoid schizophrenia can make you question a lot about life. You can either hate life and yourself and not feel confident or loved or you can pick yourself up and know that you have to love yourself enough to never give up and to make something out of your life with all of the great things that keep you wanting to live. If it wasn’t for weights, music, and all of these creative ideas and images I think of it would be a different story for me. There weren’t many people that believed me and there were lots of people that thought I was “Frazy”(that’s my ebono slango word). The best way to get people to understand you is through action and that’s one thing I’ve always taken. Excuses can’t be made and time should not be wasted. I’ve been through some break ups, I’ve had my oldest 2 kids taken from me states away to live with their moms side of the family, I’ve been homeless, I’ve paid so much money in child support that for a while my bank account with go into the negatives, I had to move back with my mom at age 27, I had grand mol seizures, etc. The list can go on, but the fact that I have always saw better for me through my imagination is what kept me sane. I always knew that if I PROtinued to move in a positive way and to know that my life is going to be excellent as long as I continue to do excellent things than that’s what I’m going to get. The power of the mind is beyond so many people’s belief. Everything once started off as a thought and to see what I have accumulated to this day is amazing, but to even think about what else I can accumulate is going to be emaculate. Tough times really show you how badly you want something. I knew that I would get through epilepsy because I could not accept it so I did something about it. Even through so much drama I graduated from college because that would be the reward to myself from all of the years of frustration and just knowing that I had to set a better example. People think I am frazy mentally and physically. I have 4 skin brands and getting those was a mindset thing as well. Some people would rather run away from their problems not even knowing that you will always have problems so just face them and get ready to be better for when the next ones comes. Resilience dealing with not getting the support you thought you would from your friends and family, but getting through with those same people asking you for money, but never offering you any help. Resilience is trying to find people that are willing to help and be patient and that can see the empire you are trying to build from the passion you speak and the actions you put behind it. Resilience is continuing with promoting and sharing your books, clothes, music, and videos. Resilience gives you that motivation to push harder. The brief thought of failure is what motivates. Knowing that if and when things take longer than expected you have to pick yourself up and be your own motivational speaker, your own parent, your own influencer, your own coach, your own boss, etc. To continue to take risks shows your resilience and how badly you want something as those L’s are lessons not losses. Learning is limitless and you have to “live a lottle!” You can change so many lives and inspire so many people by just yourself taking that leap of faith and making things happen to show others that may be scared to go after the things they want in life that it’s OK to be scared, but you’ll learn along the way. You have to make use of what’s God given and earned. No fake excuse, face the truth, and taste the proof. Asiago!!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @napppyvereen @versuhtylefitness
• Youtube: @NappyVereen /Versuhtyle Fitness
• Other: TikTok @nappyvereen nappyvereen7@gmail.com SnapChat @nappyvereen