We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jay’Lan Williams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jay’Lan, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
My development of confidence and self esteem mostly came from loving myself for what I am and what I always wanted to be . My “flaws” became my main attraction from that alone .
BASKETBALL really gave me the confidence and self esteem boost once I became good and better than overage
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a barber & basketball trainer . As a former semi pro athlete I’ve always felt it was nothing but right to give my knowledge back to the community about the sport that I love the most ! Basketball truly saved and changed my life ! growing up in St.Louis Missouri the thought of being something bigger than the expectations I had was a wish i knew would probably never come true until this one sport became a part of me . I will be using my career to start a AAU basketball team in the near future . I picked up barbering in Dallas Texas (best state on earth ) I’ve always had interest in the craft and wanted to learn until one day I put that curiosity to the test . Barbering is special to me because it gives me the opportunity to network with clients , show my character, express my style and most importantly boost confidence and put a smile on someone’s face .In the beauty industry we’re not just stylists to our clientele we’re best friends , therapist, a safe place , and sometimes miracle workers lol . I have recently been blessed to be apart of a back to school program with the DNA community center with free haircuts , give aways , backpacks , school supplies and more ! I will love to be apart of community events and I am open to working with companies. My focus of my career is to give back , share my skills , knowledge and be the best I can be .
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back on my journey I feel the most important thing that was impactful to my life changing journey is the motive to be different, different from my family , friends and better than my elders .
I was always multi talented and a quick learner there’s a lot of things I’ve taught myself that stacked skills on top of skills that helped along the way .
My knowledge came from listening and watching others make mistakes growing up along with my own failures and lessons. I never feared failure because it always came with a lesson to make me better and wiser
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I believe being more well rounded is always the way to go . One thing we do not want to be is only good at ONE thing . Your strength is a strength that’s already there of course you can be better at what you’re already good at but why not give your weaknesses a chance ? I look at life and situations sometimes like the game of basketball if I am a player who can only dribble right handed nothing more nothing less I am limiting myself in my career as a player BUT if I gave my weaknesses some effort just as I do my strengths then the defense would have to work much harder therefore LIFE wouldn’t put a limit on you , why? Because either direction it throws you , you can maintain and make something of it .
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jayblndz.square.site/
- Instagram: jay_blndz
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