Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nick Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nick, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently to speed up the learning process?

Honestly, I learned my craft from a pencil and two eggs. To elaborate, when I was kid, my dream was to be a cartoonist for Nickelodeon and create fun new shows just like many of my favorites: Rugrats, Doug, Hey Arnold, you name it. I found that art and drawing came naturally. In particular, I grew a strong affinity for drawing my favorite cartoons. I always had drawing pencils and blank printer paper in a folder. In my free time, if I wasn’t playing video games or outside, I was drawing. I even drew comic strips for my 5th grade school newspaper. My friend Bri and I would use cartoon characters from Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney to tell fun new stories for our peers. Because my parents saw how much my drawing skills were naturally growing, they put me in private art tutoring classes, took me to art stores and really set me up with the tools I needed. Unfortunately, however, as I got further into 5th grade, for some reason I had what I call drawer’s block; my natural knack for drawing no longer carried the enthusiastic inspiration. I was not sure what happened nor why, but I definitely know that I could not draw as seamlessly as I once did.

Little did I know that my gift was evolving, evolving into something that has transformed and molded me into who I am today. One Sunday morning, in 2002 I woke up really hungry. So, I walked into my parent’s room hoping that one was awake and ready to make breakfast. Unfortunately, plans went completely in the opposite direction. Even upon trying to wake up my parents, nothing seemed to work. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and cook for myself. I proceeded to ask my mom if I could just make my own food and in a half-awake response, she said, “Yes, go ahead”. I then run downstairs and begin my breakfast culinary experiment. I wanted scrambled eggs. With no experience in the kitchen, I take a moment to recall memories of how my parents would make this unique dish. I proceeded to grab a bowl, spatula, pan, butter, eggs, milk and cheese; I even grabbed the salt and black pepper hoping the ancestors would guide my hand. I crack two eggs into the bowl, add milk and a dash of salt and pepper. Using a fork I whisked the eggs. I then proceed to warm up the pan on medium heat, and then add the butter, eggs and cheese. Using my spatula, I moved the egg batter left and right. As my eggs cooked and began to solidify, something happened. I became lost in the magic of the kitchen. Over time, the more I dove into my natural knack for cooking, I realized that my skill drawing was just expanding into a new form. I traded in my canvas for a white porcelain plate. Everything that has influenced my creativity, it has been a natural integration. I’ve just been drawn to those creative spaces as if they were the puzzle pieces to my soul; it just felt right. Of course, to improve my skills I developed a strong desire to experiment, fail, learn and adjust. I chose to teach myself how to improve my gifts through this process of experimentation and of course learning from others. Everything I do that serves my creativity is tied to genuine curiosity.

If I look further back, I would have honed in on the framework that influenced me. Even before I realized I could draw, I was conducting my own science fair experiments. One experience I would conduct is creating my own bouncy ball using glue, baby powder, neosporin and paint. I would write down my procedures and test out my theories. This same framework is how I’ve approached my creative work in art, cooking, photography, videography, and graphic design. I developed a mindset to see all of the possibilities in lieu of the limitations. This allowed me to accelerate the honing of my crafts. If I knew then what I know now, I would have more readily kept journals documenting my experiences unraveling my creative self. This constant reflection would have helped me connect more dots to my gifts much sooner.

Thinking back in my journey, another essential skill has been my decisiveness to pivot. Honestly, my stubbornness has served as a counter obstacle to this decisiveness. Once I have my mind set on something I become tunnel vision. This obsession causes me to miss alternative ways to approach my work and not waste time. While being determined is necessary to overcome failure, I had to also learn how to strategically pivot. One other obstacle that I faced was creative drought. I would enter into these creative ruts and not be sure how to re-establish a creative flow. After seeking mentors, going through self reflection and working on myself, I realized that I just needed a shock to my system. When monotony would sink in and creativity was drying up, I would do activities that used a different side of my brain to inspire new creative thought. For example, if my free-hand drawing seemed to be off, I would seek out to play video games. If my cooking seemed un-inspired, I would paint. If I have been sitting at a computer for hours trying to design a flyer, I would go and play sports. By shocking my system in those dull moments, I have been able to constantly reboot my system and inspire new ideas for my work.

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

My name is Nick Williams, a multifaceted man who wears multiple hats including, but not limited to educator, author, entrepreneur, and mentor. Originally a military kid from Washington, DC, I attended the University of Virginia where I did my undergraduate degree in English and Foreign Affairs and my Masters degree in Student Affairs. After graduating with my Masters degree I worked in financial aid for UVA for 5 years. I then left UVA to work in financial aid for Virginia Commonwealth University. After a year of this role, I am currently serving as the Assistant Director of Student Engagement in the VCU School of Business. Furthermore, I am an adjunct professor at VCU where I teach the Principles of Professional Development: Men of Color” class while also completing my Doctorate in Education Leadership at VCU’s School of Education. Outside of my time in academia, I am building and running four distinct businesses. Culinaire Creations, LLC is my private chef and culinary experience venture where I do private events, cookbooks, and so much more. The second business I run is Black Kings Connect, a media company designed to connect, empower and uplift starting with its first project, Black Kings Connect Podcast, an educational platform designed to speak towards the black experience by showcasing that blackness is not monolithic. My third business is Williams Xperience Designs where I employ my creative design skills to include marketing & brand consulting, graphic design, and media production. Lastly, Legacy Leaf Publishing is the newest of the ventures that I use, for now, in publishing my cookbooks. Each of these businesses are tied to areas I am passionate about and for me, building a business around these gifts and passions allows me to expand the reach of my life’s mission: positive impact.

I got into the culinary industry because I had desired to run my own restaurant since I started cooking at the age of 10. I am 100% self taught and actually chose to not go to culinary school because I knew that I could teach myself through trial and error. Before my culinary skill sets came to the forefront, I drew a lot. I drew a lot of cartoons and you could find me as a kid always carrying drawing pencils and paper. When I thought I lost my drawing ability due to a drawer’s block, I thought it only blossomed into my cooking. My love for art and creating had more things to show me.

Of course upon choosing to forgo culinary school and going to UVA instead I realized I had many other interests. While I was pre-commerce (business) at UVA I discovered that I loved marketing. In fact, was a part of the University Programs Council planning events and doing the marketing for them. I grew an interest in graphic design, but of course couldn’t afford things like the adobe creative suite. With the help of a friend, I acquired photoshop and began to teach myself how to bring my design visions to life with the use of many youtube videos. In the summer of my 2nd year of college I also acquired a marketing internship at Monticello designing many of their postcards and marketing materials. This interest in marketing gave me the chance to use visuals to tell stories; to use creative and eye-catching images to help people and businesses share their truth. This journey in marketing and my work in Higher Education expanded my interest into consulting people in particular on their business and personal brands. Thus Williams Xperience Designs was born.

From cooking to marketing, I of course had a pivot in my final year at UVA. While I was pre-commerce, I nearly failed a majority of my business classes. As a result, I didn’t get into the business school and at this point became an English major with a Foreign Affairs minor; I figured both of these areas would give me flexibility to still do business and nurture vital skill sets in the process. While contemplating my post graduation plans, I ran into a friend of mine at the bookstore who asked what I had loved most about my UVA experience. Everything I shared was tied to creating a positive impact through opportunities such as being a Resident Advisor, planning large and small scale events through the University Programs Council, and even starting my own cooking club. I didn’t realize that by getting so heavily involved in college I developed a passion for impacting college students. Of course, my friend noticed and mentioned that I should look into working at a university in Student Affairs. I’m not sure why it never crossed my mind, but I went on a listening tour to learn more from mentors of mine at the university. Next thing I knew, I applied and got into UVA’s Masters in Education program with a concentration in Student Affairs. This one year accelerated program gave me the largest glimpse into Higher Education and I instantly knew that I made the right move. Because of my numerous roles and experiences, I realized that my impact often came from creating spaces that allow people’s stories to be heard, people’s truth to be seen and people’s authenticity to be celebrated. In particular, as a Black man who has gone to a lot of predominantly white schools, I saw many opportunities, yet I also faced a lot of racism in different forms. Because there were already few faculty and staff of color at top institutions, I often found myself in really deep convos with other Black men and women I worked with at UVA. This kind of safe space allowed us all to process a lot of our experiences. As such, I knew that we needed to create this same space, but to foster intentional dialogue to understand the Black experience. This is where Black King’s Connect was born. I reached out to a great friend of mine James Bland, explained the vision and he was all set to help build this space. We eventually brought on my old childhood friend Greg Roland to handle the marketing side of things so I can focus on scaling. Low and behold, BKC Podcast, our first project was born with the goal to dispel the myth that blackness is monolithic. Because I had some skills with videography, this was also a chance to teach myself audio engineering while leaning on my marketing lens, to help share authentic stories through our platform.

Lastly, my most recent business, Legacy Leaf publishing combines many of my creative skills. This particular business, however, was really inspired due to my English major. In order to declare my English major, I had to take three core classes the summer after my 2nd year at UVA. One of the classes I took that summer was a publishing class where the goal of the class was to teach us the ins and outs of self publishing with publishing works of ours as our final project. Throughout High school and college I had also gotten into spoken word poetry and where I would do performances any chance I could get. As such, from this class, I published my first book, “Flow”. Knowing that I created the book content, designed the cover, and built the brand identity of the book, I figured I could do the same with building out my cookbook line once I started my doctorate. As various test runs, creating mini-cookbooks for family and friends, I began using this same infrastructure to publish my first two cookbooks with a third one currently in the works. This publishing company gave me a way to build a passive stream of income for my culinary business so that I ultimately have more balance in my life.

With the use of all of my gifts to build meaningful businesses, I am most proud of staying true to who I am. Each of my businesses are designed to allow my most authentic self and quality to shine through. Furthermore, what I am most proud of is how I’ve built spaces that add a positive imprint into the lives of others whether it’s through a recipe that someone tries from my kitchen or my cookbook or through podcast episodes that help someone find healing and truth. My Christian faith is my core foundation and I’ve always desired to be a light in the world everywhere I go. The coolest thing about living in my truth, is that especially as a professor and administrator, my students get to witness this journey; young black men just like me, are able to learn from my journey to inspire their own.

My life’s mission is to make an impact, my purpose is to be a light, my story is a mission to live unapologetically authentic and inspire others; this is the biggest thing I want customers and followers of my businesses to gain from all of this.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I had to unlearn was: “Limiting myself out of fear of failure, uncertainty and feelings.” Before I went to college, I honestly thought that cooking (at that point) was my sole gift. Going down an alternative path in lieu of going to culinary school, I figured I’d learn more about myself, however I didn’t expect to discover so many diverse gifts. As a result, I felt torn and began listening to the guidance from people around me saying that you have to choose one thing to be good at. By doing this and listening to such advice, I would flourish one gift and hold back the rest. I would also be afraid of failing to impress those I admire; I tried to live by their expectations and would give up at times because they said some things wouldn’t work. I would also be afraid of the cost of pursuing my full purpose to include letting go of relationships that limited me and confronting my own insecurities. The more I chose to hold back the fullness of my gifts, the more my spirit felt unfulfilled and limited. I also would not talk about multiple gifts, let alone use them all because I was afraid of how I would be perceived by showing them. When I finally decided to unleash all of my gifts, I watched as each gift nourished each other, but most importantly, how much I transformed into who I am called to be. As a Christian, I firmly believe that we are called to be a light in the world. My gifts that I have been blessed with allow me to live authentically and achieve this call.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building my audience on social media has had one simple strategy: Be authentically you. Really this journey started with understanding what I love about food: I love to connect and create meaningful experiences. This concept is true for everything I do whether it’s through cooking, marketing, teaching and leading. Building my audience on social media has had one simple strategy: Be authentically you. As such, I first thought about what value I bring through my personal and professional brand. Secondly, I thought about what story I want to share with those who currently follow me. I had to focus less on what story the world wanted to tell about me and more so about what story authentically represents who I am and what I represent. Third, I had to think about what kind of content aligns with this vision. Because of who I am, I decided to share content that shares my greatest wins and my greatest losses. I decided to share the lessons I learned from such experiences as well. Honing in on these pieces allowed my audience to get to know my heart, mind and soul. As a marketer and basic human being I recognized that people watch those who create, but commit to those who are consistent and unapologetically themselves. Furthermore, I also understood that especially with social media, your content should also be in alignment to who you are in real life. Because a lot of my base following are family, friends and colleagues, I wanted to make sure that what they see me post aligns with who they see on a day to day basis; this builds lasting trust.

For those who are just starting to build their social media presence, the best piece of advice I could offer is to be consistently authentic and chart your own path. It’s easy to do what we witness others doing. You must walk to the beat of your own drum. I had to focus less on “likes” and began to focus more on “views”. Because my mission is to make an impact, if I see a consistent increase in the number of people who view my content, this means I have a wider net to reach people. Furthermore, every couple of months or so, I would reintroduce myself to my audience. Even if I grew my audience by 10% in that two month timeframe, taking the time to remind your following of: who you are, what value you bring, and why you do what you do, this creates a meaningful point of connection. Furthermore, this intentionality increases the chances that people will positively speak about and share your social media pages with others. Your best marketing is tied less to those who are loyal, but more so to those who genuinely believe in what you do and why you do what you do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/williamsenterprise
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamprofessornick?igshid=Y2I2MzMwZWM3ZA==
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/nawilliams

Image Credits
Matthew J Photography Bird’s iView Photography Taylor Robinson Williams Xperience Designs Sidd Kumar Photography