We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Charles Pratt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Charles, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
That’s such a great question! To be honest, I’ve always had a creative spark. I remember as a young child living on an Army base with my parents in Germany, the service members would put on plays and fashion shows for entertainment. I participated in both and I remember having a wonderful experience making people smile or laugh. My favorite was playing the dual role of a Munchkin and one of the flying monkeys! As life went on, jobs and responsibilities got in the way of me expressing myself creatively. Then comes Facebook Live, the ability to share your immediate thoughts and surroundings with those on your friend list. I had a LOT to say when it came to the dating world! Enter Dating University, and the rest is history!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Charles, 40, Aquarius, from Baltimore, MD. I got onto content creation by happy accident. My good friend and now business partner, Brittany started using the “go Live” feature, airing her grievances about dating in the new millennium. I asked to join her in one of her sessions because I had a LOT to say about the topic!! We did our rant, and the people loved the chemistry between us and asked if would do another.
Week after week, we went live with fresh perspectives on the pressing topics of the moment. From the positive response we were getting, Brittany and I sat down and created something more concrete, and Dating University was born. A live talk show where people can come and have open, and honest conversations about topics with us as Hosts, or “Professors” to facilitate the discussion. Since 2016, we’ve expanded into audio podcasts of our show, paid workshops and consultations for online dating, brand ambassadorships, to selling our own merch. While we don’t consider ourselves relationship experts, we provide an authentic look at all things relationships on our show, and our fans and newcomers really appreciate it and gravitate to us every week.
Personally, I’ve taken this newfound love for content creation to a new level. I’ve started a podcast consulting business, where I work with anyone who has an idea for a show to help develop it. I walk them through the steps that I had to stumble through and find my way to make a smoother process and get them to their first published episode. It’s given me so much joy seeing a seed of an idea in someone’s mind into a fully fleshed-out and tangible thing that they otherwise would’ve sat on the shelf of their imagination. I’m also in the process of creating a media group to pull these future content creators together to share resources and grow in their own way.
I’m most proud of our ability to reach people organically from all walks of life without judgment, fear, and being unapologetic about what we discuss. Our main goal is to pull back the layers of hurt and division between people to get to the heart of why we treat each other the way we do, and how to be better.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Most people never believe me when I tell them that I am a complete introvert! They don’t get how I can get in front of a camera or microphone and become this very charismatic person. What I would tell someone who may be in the same boat of being in their shell is to find a passion for something. Learn all you can about it, Find others who share your interest, and invite someone into that part of your world. Is it easy? Hell no. But, the risk is definitely worth the reward. I mean, I couldn’t even have gotten this interview without putting myself out there!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I/we’ve grown our audience pretty organically. We don’t have a marketing team, or scour the web for the trendiest things and hop on the wave. We’ve always relied on word of mouth from our fans. We knew the market was and still is saturated with all these creators yelling at the top of their lungs or downing a certain group of people for views. We wanted to be different. Has it taken longer because we’re not following the cookie-cutter way of doing things? Yes, but having that core group of fans that rock with you week in and week out is worth its weight in gold. It’s only a matter of time before we’ll hit the spotlight and folks will see that Dating University is the best show you’re not watching yet, LOL.
In the world of algorithms and trending sounds, you never know what will take you from obscurity to being a viral sensation. You have to be your own number-one fan. Everything starts right there. No one else is gonna buy what you’re selling if you don’t believe in your own product. Expand to your close friends and give them something relatable to hang on to. They’ll do the leg work for you. For everyone outside of your close circle, engage in the comments of others who have a larger following. People love consistency, so walk that line of being present, but not a spam bot.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/DatingUniversity
- Instagram: @datinguniversity_ @professorcharles_du
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063649656239
- Twitter: @DatingUniversi2
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMt2-z-J4T670M2pIapWqzw