We were lucky to catch up with Phyllup Gilbert recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Phyllup, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Looking at me, by far my parents did everything right. Luckily I was born a healthy and strong baby who grew up to be a well groomed and mannered young man. My parents were never married, however they both taught me something different. Being that my mom was always a single parent and she had 3 of us to care for, I looked up to her for that because single parenting is not easy. Watching her work several jobs at times to see to it that we had everything we wanted and needed was a huge motivation for me as I grew up. It made me want to work hard and not fail at things in life, so that I could provide for myself in life. As far as my dad, he taught me that you don’t need two parents to be satisfied with your work ethics and ability to get through life’s struggles. Being that my dad has been absent most parts of my life, it taught me to look up to other men such as my uncles and pastors, etc. for advice and knowledge to get me where I needed to be. Every one of these men taught me that you don’t need a man that’s called your dad, but a man that can teach you how to become a man in every different way to succeed in life. The best thing my dad did was give me good genes and life to develop a career for myself.

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

I have always been the creative type. Creativity is what has helped me to stay stress free and set goals for growth for myself. It helps me maintain self esteem and self pride in what I do and accomplish. I love shopping because I’m into fashion very heavy so I like to try out different styles, colors, cuts, fabrics and all the things of the things. My personality is also abroad and I’m a huge socialite. I love to be in rooms with people laughing, talking, and networking. That is why I do radio and tv because it’s an expression and shows an extension of who I am. My brand goes abroad from modeling, to fashion, to media, to even making my own custom tshirts within my business I created named Printsbyprynce. I love clothes, so I figured why not do something that brings me joy and I have passion for. People love my Instagram page because of my fashion sense and my Facebook because of my entertaining blogs and news with a little bit of myself involved as well. I belong to a black owned clothing brand by the name of Taedesignz and I am the face and brand ambassador for that brand. There’s so much to what meets the eye with me. I could list them all day.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media can become too fantasized. I’m saying that, I mean that what appears to be is not really what it is in real life. These a lot of people who call themselves “influencers”, but in real life they aren’t really influential people. The best advice I can give anyone wanting to build a brand or followers is to stay true to who you are, your brand, and also see what works for your followers and what they like. This gives you a sense of motivation to create a story based off who you are and helps you share that world with others who inspire to be or are just like you. To be influential is to be authentic. Don’t dress like everyone else, don’t steal ideas from everyone else, don’t try to be someone you’re not, just simply provide an environment that shows off who you are and goals and standards you seek to elevate to in life. Remember, there is no competition to being your true self in social media.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

This was a great question. I went to my uncles house one night and he sat me down and said “hey nephew, I want you to watch this documentary real quick because I think you will appreciate it”. The documentary focused on the life of rapper and artist “Lil Baby”. It told how he came out of the hood in the west end of Atlanta and never wanted to rap, but he was such a hustler and that’s all he knew. However, someone saw better for him and wanted him to stay off the streets and out of trouble because he was a big time hustler, but everyone loved him. He had a great personality and was all about elevating and improving while never going broke. His story inspired me so much and I think that documentary focused so much on growing up and stepping out of your comfort zone to do something you had no idea you were so talented to do while still being humble. I may be older than him, but I sure do look up to that guy because I too strive to be better than myself from who I was yesterday. If you haven’t seen that documentary, I highly suggest anyone seeking some motivation to watch it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: PhyllThaPrynce
• Facebook: PhyllThaPrynce
• Twitter: PhyllThaPrynce
• Other: TikTok: PhyllThaPrynce3.0 Business Insta: printsbyprynce15

Image Credits
Taedesignz