We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Issiah Thomas Jr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Issiah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Networking Knights was created as an organization to help connect people to captia, resources, knowledge and most importantly connecting people to each other.
The Knight piece on in a chess game is the only piece that can strategically move out side of the other pieces. In life we have to face challenges obstacles and set backs with confidence in knowing that we can step back take a deep breathe and strategically move in ways to overcome.
The Knight during the Renaissance Age served the King and the Queen under oath to protect the Kingdom
The Knight from a spiritual perspective is a person who serves humanity with empathy along with helping individuals discover their God given greatness
Connecting all these pieces allows Networking Knights to connect people and build relationships of value, resilience and impact.
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
Issiah D. Thomas Jr., PhD (aka: Zae) is an entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, life coach, philanthropist, mentor, educator, community and social organizer After obtaining a bachelor degree in Animal Science Pre-Veterinarian Medicine from Prairie View A&M University in 2000 and has since then pursued his masters degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix with a Ph.D in Adult Education from Capella University with a well vers resume of educational, coaching, several organizational affiliation and research experience.
Issiah worked as a educator for 17yrs with Dallas ISD, UTSW Community Intervention and Prevention Health survey and HIV testing along with other government entities (F.E.M.A. & Census Bureau) and JPMORGAN CHASE the FIRM.
In 2017-2018 Issiah became one of the founders of a nonprofit organization. During the inception of Networking Knights his business partner Trevon J Holmes and himself started thinking about how to connect the minority community to the business community of the DFW Ecosystem and bring equity to the marginalized communities.
This dream became a reality and Networking Knights a nonprofit organization was launched.
As a highlight,The Networking Knights recently rolled out the Youth Development and Entrepreneur Leadership Program during the pandemic after a quick pivot from hosting in person networking events, mixers, community projects and Panel series.
The Entrepreneurial journey has not been all glitz and glam, but a true test if your faith, strength and endurance.
Issiah’s goals is to continue to share his passion for relationship building, creating an Impact amongst all communities with a level of Integrity, gratitude and humility
My message is simple: “No Condition is Permanent!” It’s about protecting your peace, embracing change,perseverance, self awareness and evolving.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
What has helped me build my reputation within the nonprofit and social sector is my character, communication and trust.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
The most powerful advice I have for managing a team is through frequent communication.
I maintain high morales by valuing and helping the team discover their natural talents and allowing the team the opportunity to utilize their strengths. Not only does this tap into a deeper, more intrinsic motivation, this helps the team develop personally and professionally.
Contact Info:
- Website: Networkingknights.org
- Instagram: Networking Knights / Iamsir_zae
- Facebook: Networking Knights / Issiah Thomas Jr
- Linkedin: Issiah Thomas Jr