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

Dr. Tommy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I grew up homeless with drug-addicted parents who were arrested 121 times by the time I finished high school as an All-American football player. Despite those odds, I went on to play Big Ten football and obtain 4 degrees, including my doctrate. For many years, I was embarrassed and pained by my story. After college, I decided to write a book about my story in 1999 and published the award-winning book, A Face of Courage, in 2008. The process of writing the book helped me to heal and help others as well. Years later, after resigning from my job as a school principal to become an entrepreneur, I decided I wanted to do a movie about my story. So in 2019, I produced my 8 time award-winning short film that has been in competitions around the country. Today, I’m now preparing to take my story and produce into a feature film to be shared around the world. The journey has not been easy, as I was not in the film industry. The last 4 years, has involved lots of courses, books, attending film festivals and reaching out to industry people for guidance. The very first steps of the business journey involved getting an entertainment lawyer and setting up my business, Resilient Movie, LLC.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an author, executive and professional coach, trainer, speaker, and executive movie producer. The goal of my company is to inspire and inform individuals and organizations with the skills and knowledge to become more resilient by overcoming obstacles and adjusting to change. I have a program that helps individuals looking to take the leap from employee to entrepreneur to doing what they love. I’m proud to be a beacon of hope for what’s possible for others.

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

My movie is called Resilient, ironically. In one of my very first meetings with an individual who was a influencer in the film industry, he said that I was very inexperienced when it came to the film industry and he would hate to be in my shoes. I took that as motivation to learn as much as could as quickly as I could. Four years later, I’m now preparing to produce my own featured movie with a TV series to follow. Not bad shoes to be in. More to come, stay tune.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have faced lots of rejections being new to the film industry. The greatest lesson that I have learned from the many rejections that I have faced has been seeing the blessings in the lessons in each rejection. I took the information from each rejection and went back and studied and learned, which in turn increased my knowledge AND allowed me to have greater control and ownership of my projects. Thank God for the rejections!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.tawatson.com