We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful SHENIQUA WILLIAMS. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with SHENIQUA below.
SHENIQUA, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
In July 2025 while riding past the old FATZ cafe off of Southport Rd. I casually mentioned to my boyfriend how I wished we had a gaming cafe here (in Spartanburg). His response “I don’t know what that is, explain.” lol. So, I did, explain to him what my idea of a gaming cafe would be based off the ones I had seen in a few shows like; “The Kings Avatar” “Falling into your smile”. While the shows were basically about e-sports teams, they provided a reference point for me to explain to him. His next response was “Well open one up yourself. Do your research, find out if there are any around, the market, etc.; then let me know what you learn.” So, I went to ChatGPT and did just that with some additional research on my own as well.
After learning that there was almost nothing around the area even close to what i was looking for or envisioning, I decided to walk out on faith and try to bring my dream vision to life. The thing that I believe that will set my Lounge apart from any other gaming lounge/cafe is the fact that it’s not just a gaming lounge. It’s an Asian vibe Anime Gaming Lounge. I will also be trying to incorporate little pieces of Asia into the overall look and flow of the lounge. From the Raman Cafe to Ramune Drinks. Once we start growing, my full vision entails a space for karaoke, private content creation rooms, hosting full blown cosplay events where people will travel from all over the world just to be a part of it, hosting mainstream e-sport tournaments, tabletop tournaments, and a youth program for children who want to learn game coding, game design, web development, etc.
As an introvert-extrovert. Being around certain groups of people becomes extremely uncomfortable for me, and I tend to shut down because I feel I don’t have anything in common with the people around me then I leave the area. In those situations, or times I’ve gone through it, I’ve gotten called socially awkward.
I want to build The Fox Den Gaming Lounge into one of the largest and best fit places in Spartanburg for all NERDS, Otakus, Gamers of all genres to gather and have fun. I feel we need a place to relax and be ourselves. It may not be perfect or be what everyone needs but I definitely feel that with its increasing growth adults and youth alike will have a space where they can be themselves safely and most importantly judge-free. From game tournaments to cosplay and watch parties. I’m looking forward to making my dream and the dream place of others come true.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
For years I silently dealt with depression. From childhood to adulthood, it was something I battled but never spoke to anyone about. One day while I was in the military I just happened to mention to a friend how I was feeling. Her advice to me was “find something you can do alone or don’t mind doing alone that will help take your mind off everything you’re going through at the moment.” That day I went to my barrack, sat on the bed, and just thought about everything I had at my disposal that would help me overcome my sadness and loneliness. That day I cut my phone off and played guitar hero for almost 4hrs and when I finally got off, I felt so much better. From that point on gaming became one of the most important vices to me in overcoming quiet a few of my darkest moments.
Then in 2014 while dating a guy I started watching anime with him. I had watched anime before. Like I knew about titles such as Dragon Ball. Full Metal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Sailor Moon. All shows I had watched before or heard of as a child. We started on Dragon Ball and from there; I basically became a full anime fan.
The problem I feel I would be solving for my clients is providing a space where being “weird” is “normal” and being “normal” is “weird”. I think people tend to forget that while words are not physical objects that can cause visible wounds. They can still hurt and cause invisible and emotional wounds. Those types of wounds are the hardest to heal from. There are many people that need a place to heal from the outside world, me included. There may still be people that don’t get it or understand the concept of The Fox Den. But it is intended to be place for all to come under the protection of the Nine-tail fox goddess to just enjoy their hobbies and have fun.
I’m most proud of the mother and business owner I’m becoming. I’m becoming a new version of myself that I’ve always been afraid to be. I’m also proud of myself for stepping out and becoming an entrepreneur and even with all the ups and downs with starting this business, I haven’t given up. I’m excited and looking forward to all the new people I will meet and all the new things I will learn during this adventure as well as the growth that I hope it brings to the community.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Funding my business has been one of the most challenging parts of this journey. There are not many options available for real start-ups. Anything that says start-up is really for businesses that have already been established and in their second year of running. As a business that’s offering somewhat of a service that requires a location, there aren’t many options. I refused to let that stop or deter me from moving forward. I’m extremely grateful for the ways things have moved so far. But as of now all funding into and for my business has been through my own means.
I purchased my first items on credit. Luckily, I had the available credit to charge a lot of the things I needed and paid them off overtime. While I’m still looking for ways to gain capital, I’m still taking steps through any means I have available to keep moving forward and bring The Fox Den Gaming Lounge to life as fast as possible.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
Gaining a presence online was one of the other challenges I had. I myself am a very shy person with not a lot of confidence. So, showing my face or being on camera and posting pics of myself I seldomly do. I began building and started posting with the help of ChatGPT, then Laura reached out to me. Prior to speaking with Laura, I had already spoken with another company and while their prices were high, I just figured that was the norm. So, I put it on the back burner until I was at the point that I could confidently be able to afford marketing, as again, I’m self-funded with very limited funds.
Speaking to Laura was the first step I feel changed everything for me when it came to marketing for the business. Oct 6 was my first meeting with Laura. I had a one on three meeting with her and her awesome children and for the first time I felt good about my possibility to have marketing. She did her thing and left. I want to say it was later that night, she made a few posts. I was amazed with the way the post and the stories looked. I felt really good about it all. From that moment on awareness of “The Fox Den” became more and more prevalent. In just 3 weeks because of her, I went from about 87 followers to the 266 followers I have now.
Laura McElyea is an amazing marketer. I love working with her and hope to continue working with her. At the moment due to an unforeseen circumstance, I was not able to work with her for the month of November but I’m hoping things turn around and that I’m able to get back started with her in December and every month moving forward. But because I was not able to work with her for the month of November and being forced to stop working on the lounge, things have slowed down tremendously. While I know it’s a temporary situation. I’m just hoping that things can start back up soon, and that I’ll be able to get my marketer back as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thefoxdengl.com
- Instagram: @thefoxdensc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19PnhGcLhz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
