We’re looking forward to introducing you to Justin Williams. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Justin, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity is such an overwhelmingly positive attribute. In the lens of nature vs nurture, it’s interesting to see how people develop their sense of morality, what or who incentivizes or encourages it, and how they ultimately act upon it. The thing about intelligence and energy, both important in their own right, is that they are typically determined within, and by, the public eye. Witnesses, members of an audience, and critics alike all gauge one’s intelligence and level of energy for them. Integrity, however, largely has to do with who you are when nobody else is around. So gauging one’s integrity is almost an exercise in integrity itself. Although it’s nice to hear from an external source that I have integrity, my mental, silent retort to that compliment is typically, “Okay but how do you know?”
It’s something that I have to develop in silence and in the uncomfortable places. The pathways to greater intelligence (presumably of the mind) and energy (presumably of the body) aren’t horrifically dissimilar either, as they both often require engagement in the forms of practice and repetition in solitude in order to be seen and judged as valid by the public later. What truly sets integrity apart is that both intelligence and energy come from integrity (presumably of the heart), or rather, are expanded upon as a result of it.
Always choose integrity first, and the rest will follow undoubtedly.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Justin Eats. I did not come up with that name but as my food vlog brand, Justin’s Alaska Eats, expanded into Justin Eats Alaska and further into other territories (Justin Eats Portland, Justin Eats Madrid, etc., etc.) my local fanbase simply shortened it to Justin Eats. Why argue that? It isn’t untrue. I’m Justin and, dammit, I eat.
My story is not particularly sensational. Like most humans, if I don’t consume food, I’ll die. That’s incentive number one.
Incentive number two looks like a little like, “Oh crap, it’s the Year of our Lord 2020 and this coronavirus stuff is getting real. Families are being shut in. Battle royales are happening in the streets all in the name of toilet paper. Businesses are closing down. Most importantly, RESTAURANTS are closing down.” Not to mention, as an artist–and an Aries, for those of you who trust the stars–it’s sometimes hard to not have my hands in multiple proverbial cookie jars, as the beautiful and bubbly Chef Staci Gillilan would put it. I do not enjoy boredom. I enjoy podcasting. I enjoy cinema. I enjoy musicianship. I enjoy graphic design. I enjoy eating. So when my wife at the time suggested, for the millionth time, that I should take my stupid Aries personality and apply it to social media to establish a food reviewing brand, I finally listened and did it.
Incentive number three looks like acknowledging that people are actually enjoying my silly videos. At the time I was the new guy on the food review scene, and during the pandemic, I was able to make an impact. My daughter eats what I eat. So I wanted to do better than order us Taco Hell every other day, where the mystery meat is just that, a mystery, or Burger King, where the fries taste like wood chips. No giant chains were closing down, but local Alaskans really enjoyed seeing me digest the menus of local restaurants–because those places needed help. I found my audience, expanded it, and let it rip. “Might as well keep going,” I figured. “I’m not getting paid to do this, but a free meal every once and a while doesn’t hurt.” And with my third review of Da Jerk’s Spots food helping that restaurant earn a 200% increase in their sales after the fact, I learned that my brand, Justin Eats, became more than a vlog. It was an economic stimulus.
These days I take it slow and engage in other food-related matters, but the most recent adventure is an upcoming collaboration with a much more massive food brand–Best Ever Food Review Show, who has amassed 12M followers on Youtube and nearly 100k on Instagram–for a foodie tour of our very own Alaska State Fair.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was free.
Less educated, but free.
Less liked, but free.
Less rich, but free.
Then, the world told me I needed to be educated, you know? Liked. Rich. I fell into the system that creates more cogs in the macrolevel machine; the one that produces mindless sheep of broken leaders and mindless soldiers of broken causes; the one that creates laughable amounts of devilishly high college debt; the one that defines success by being in a heteronormative relationship and assets ownership; and the one that conditions most of us to believe that without being a mindless sheep or soldier, without going to college regardless of why or what the cost is, and without being married and being a homeowner, we do not amount to much at all.
I’m working on being free again. Sometimes Jesus, my therapist, and my wallet don’t all agree with one another. But now that I have my college degree (I don’t regret this), and have been married once (I don’t regret this either), I feel that my eyes are beginning to reopen to the world I once knew. In that world, success is not defined by what we own but what we are able to let go of. In that world, our success is not determined by our marital status or even our “body count”, but by our level of personal peace. I miss being in a relationship, but if it costs me my peace, I likely need to step away. I miss eating pizza everyday too, but if it is causing my discipline to blister, and my weight to bloat, and my stomach to hurt, I likely need to step away. It’s a process, but I liked that kid who was so free before the world told him he had to be this and do that. I’m reconnecting with him again.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me appreciation and gratitude.
Is this a basic answer? Absolutely. Nonetheless, it’s deliciously true.
Our natural, default state is typically what we think is our best state. So we don’t notice the breath in our lungs until we get the wind knocked out of us.
We don’t appreciate, or even continue to wish for, our health, until we get sick and that discomfort reminds us of what health actually is.
Oftentimes we don’t even appreciate our romantic partners until they warn us they will walk away if things Don’t change.
How can we appreciate something we don’t notice? Suffering not only educates us more than success does, it leads *to* success.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
A cultural value worth every ounce of defense is that the only person that gets to determine my blackness for me, is me.
This obsession of non-black people telling black people that they aren’t a certain amount of “black” (because the way they speak, dress or behave doesn’t match up with what blackness is supposed to mean in their head) will absolutely face annihilation when face-to-face with yours truly. I have been told my entire life that I am not black enough, that is to say, I have not “earned” my skin tone. This insinuates that being black is some sort of reward or trophy to be won, which would further explain why my culture is so sought after: the music, the cuisine, the speech, the fashion, the written word…everything but the history.
Yikes.
This is the textbook definition of appropriation, as opposed to appreciation. It’s cultural disrespect, and in life–business, personal, or otherwise–there is simply no time to tolerate that.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
This question should probably be asked to every people-pleaser. As a recovering people-pleasure myself, I can honestly say now that I could give everything my best, regardless of who has observed and praised me for it. If I am doing something for myself, and not for another person, there is no real reason for me to be bothered by someone else’s approval or disapproval of what I have accomplished, you know? Now, of course, it is quite valid that if you do something specifically for someone else, and they disapprove of it, you have the right to feel that they are simply ungrateful, and hopefully have the emotional intelligence to express that maturely and responsibly if this situation calls for it. I have no reason to half-ass an activity, even if I do not particularly care about it. I need to prove to myself that I *can* do it, and that usually overtakes if said activity is something I *want* to do.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justineatsalaska/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustinsAlaskaEats
- Other: BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justineatsalaska.bsky.social
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@justineatsalaska?_t=ZP-8yiY1YVjgC7&_r=1
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