We were lucky to catch up with Josiah Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Josiah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling for quite some time. In middle school, I started watching WWE, and I very quickly fell in love with it. As a theatre arts kid, I loved the theatrical elements of it – storylines, character development, making ‘decisions’ and ‘choices,’ the overall presentation. And most of all, I loved the music. 99% of professional wrestlers have a song that plays during their entrance, and that alone tells a major part of their story.

I’ve been making music, officially, for 13 years. When I’m in-between projects, I try to clear my head and do something else, something different. In 2017, I started writing lyrics over professional wrestling theme songs, and the following year I began to present those to the world under the stage name “Wrestle and Flow.” It very quickly took off; someone at WWE noticed and reached out to begin establishing a relationship. Fast-forward 9 months, I became an On-Air Talent with the company!

It took a ton of work to get there. I’m an independent artist. My ‘team’ consists of myself and my wife. Bree. I recorded my vocals for the remixes and sent them out to get mixed and mastered. My wife would typically film my portion of the music videos, and I would do literally everything else – editing, sourcing additional clips and effects, uploading, graphics, lyrics, copy, pre-release, post-release, content planning, scheduling, all of it. It was a lot of spending money and not getting any in return, but I like to think that it all paid off in the end.

Josiah, 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?

I attended schools that focused on the arts for their models of education. Being in preschool and taking in the core fundamentals of theatre, music, visual art, dance, photography, etc., it pretty much laid the foundation for everything that I do. My degree is in Theatre Performance, and I always operate with ‘presentation’ at the front of mind.

Full time, I’m a Digital Designer for The Walt Disney Company, and I focus on videography & content creation. In my creative time outside of work, I’m a Christian Hip-Hop artist, and I often freelance as a videographer, editor, on-air talent and brand ambassador.

When I was a kid, I told my mother that I wanted to be an actor, which she obviously supported. She would encourage me to watch Inside the Actor’s Studio on Bravo. One of my favorite episodes was Jamie Foxx’s, where he spoke about his grandmother and her influence on his life. She always told him to build up his ‘tools’ and to add more ‘tools’ to his ‘tool belt.’ I took that to heart, and I’ve been doing the same. It’s awesome because I also received similar advice from Paul Heyman (WWE), who is a jack-of-all-trades and is loaded with knowledge and experience.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love the stories of artists meeting people who have been positively impacted by their creativity. Christian Hip-Hop artist Andy Mineo has a song called “Reflections.” He talks about meeting a fan in a hospital. She was getting a sonogram, and ended up telling him about her struggles. She mentioned that his music helped get her through, and he ended that section by saying that’s better than a Grammy. “Those are my trophies. When people in pain quote me.”

That’s the most rewarding. There’s nothing that compares to it. Especially when you’re an artist like myself who intentionally makes art to leave a positive impact on people. It’s the greatest feeling ever.

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

We all, of course, were impacted by Covid-19 / the pandemic. I ended up losing my job at WWE during that time. They merged two departments together – TV and Digital.

I felt defeated for a while. I moved my family across the country for the position. We took a couple of years to really get settled in our new city; we learned how to navigate this new world and new stage in our lives. I got to a point where I really felt confident in my work, where I was headed, what was ‘next’ for me while being in WWE NXT. I was going to be a permanent fixture on NXT UK as a backstage correspondent. I was going to be the new ring-announcer for the show that ultimately became NXT LEVEL UP. I was directing and producing a mini-series called “What’s NeXT” that was doing very well. My wife and I purchased our first home, really started talking about kids / growing the family… and then my role was terminated in the middle of all of this.

I took time to reflect, to figure out what I wanted to do, to sort through all of the emotions… and I kept coming back to one simple thought – I’m so thankful.

I’m thankful for all of these experiences. I’m thankful that I was able to live out a dream of mine from childhood. I’m thankful that my role models, people who I admired and looked up to, gave me career advice that I can take with me anywhere I go. I’m thankful that the opportunities I earned at WWE ultimately led to other doors opening outside of the company. I’m thankful that I’m in a place where I can still support my family. I’m thankful that I can be a supportive husband, and that I’m able to come home every night to see my wife and my daughter.

There are outside circumstances that I’ll never be able to change. But with a thankful state of mind, I’ll always have a solid ground to stand on. No matter what.

Contact Info:

• Website: jdeanwilliams.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdeanwilliams/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdeanwilliams
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdeanwilliams/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDeanWilliams
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jdeanwilliams

Image Credits
All Elite Wrestling – Speedy Photo