We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Edward Blair II. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Edward below.
Hi Edward, thanks for joining us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
I am a youth development worker as well as a football, basketball, baseball coach and I currently work at the high school I coach basketball and baseball at. Last spring I had ambitions to coach football at the school I work at and was advised that I should talk to the head varsity coach to see about a role on the staff. As a former player I played against the coach at a rival high school. I met Coach Granger in person and due to the high school staff being full he counter offered me a coaching job with a youth football program that he is a program director for and I was able to coach 3rd/4th graders in football and met some amazing people and built up a network in my community. That coaching job led to me being asked to coach baseball by Coach Lawson at the high school level and then the relationships I’ve built as a coach and staff at the high school I work at landed me and an internship/apprenticeship assisting Coach Crum with high school basketball. I feel joy that at the age of 29 I am able to coach all of these sports and have direct communication with such great coaching staffs and the people that support each program supports me very much and so does my peers at work. To be able to learn from great coaches and apply my knowledge in each sport is very rewarding.
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’ve been a recording artist/songwriter since the age of 16. I’ve charted on multiple platforms such as iTunes, shazam, Amazon and have been featured on some notable blogs as well for my music and I’ve had two television appearances and have been played on SiriusXM radio and on some small fm market radio stations as well. I’ve worked with artist like Mickey Factz who is apart of the 2009 XXL freshman class and I’ve worked with some legendary artist from Atlanta’s most popular collective “The Dungeon Family” and the artist include Big Rube and T-Mo Goodie from Goodie Mob. I’ve been streamed over 3 million times and can be found on all DSP’s when you search my artist name Ed Blair. I also do music as a duo with my wife Sierra Shanelle and we go by The Blairs and just dropped our first single called Counting Blessings. My podcast is called “The Ed Blair Podcast” and it has over 21k downloads and guest include all the notable people I have music with and more and the show is about society and culture as well as entertainment and sports. My brand is The Varsity Squad Collective and I am in a rebranding process as I am now turning what was just a clothing line into a fully functional multi media company. I’ve been in business since 2017 and have built a small but loyal fan base for the company over the years. Also on my spare time I major in audio production at full sail university and plan to expand my coaching and youth development roles by getting a teaching certificate in both early child education and secondary education. Currently I am a member of the National Society Of Collegiate Scholars and am also a member of Grammy U by the recording Academy.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I feel being versatile and having multiple endeavors helped open up doors for me to be successful at more than one thing. Everything I do intertwines with one another and sometimes it’s amazing to see how one dream has connected so many dots in my life and the journey is still in the beginning process. Being humble and god fearing has been the best thing to help my reputation as I am strong on praying and doing my best to live a righteous life and leading by example for the youth.
How did you build your audience on social media?
My audience is still growing but I’d say only use social media for your business and for promoting your content. I’m not a believer in posting your personal issues and drama on social media. It’s cool to post fun things in your life to make your profiles seem more personable but keep focused on the brand and the content that helps push the brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beatstars.com/notoriousblair
- Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/thenotoriousblairs
- Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/TheNotoriousBlair
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-blair-ii-738008213
- Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/NotoriousBlairs
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/EdBlair
- Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ed-blair/1087114003 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ed-blair-podcast/id1523201617 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6TSxTe1wrSGQuAhDgpwQKb?si=NMFUoOo3Q7mB-InLZarwtg https://open.spotify.com/show/465M8FdjMIFdmzqUomCBFp?si=eJowocWoRx-WJQmZR8qpUw
Image Credits
Naromney Waters (Studio Pics)