Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Matthew Sims Jr of New York

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Matthew Sims Jr. Check out our conversation below.

Matthew, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I think others are STILL struggling with the effects of COVID and being in solitude. Our social batteries are declining and living through each day is expensive and monotonous. I think we tolerate the daily must-do’s and anything extra feels like betrayal to our true selves. I also believe that while shedding into a new creature it is difficult and feels wrong to embrace. We’re tired of politics, social media and brunch.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Matthew Sims, Jr and I’m a southern gentleman living in the NYC metro area. I’m Louisiana born and raised, love good food, game nights and laughing out loud until it hurts. I am passionate about Entertainment and Education. I’m a Broadway Performer that is reaching back to my previous life, dusting off my math skills and marrying education and entertainment. I currently create math content and my social media accounts are growing daily and rapidly, with people being pleasantly tricked into raising their mathematical and critical thinking skills. It was brought to my attention, during the pandemic, by my best friend Cordell, that so many people were having a difficult time adjusting to virtual school. The students were falling behind and the parents couldn’t help. Many don’t know but my degree is in secondary education with a concentration in Mathematics. I always dreamed of opening my version of Sylvan learning Center or Mathnasium. I saw it as a theater camp with cross curricular activities to promote academic rigor in a fun way. I guess I’ve been trained for this my whole life. My mom was a teacher/principal and helping her decorate her classroom and watch her grade papers was a norm. My dad was a pastor so if any choir member, usher or deacon missed, I was the fill in. I grew up singing in the choir, playing saxophone and spreading joy and laughter. I’ve always had the gift to connect with people, meet them where they are and allow them to ascend without it feeling like I’m teaching but they’re learning. During the pandemic my virtual math tutoring company was birthed, MathYOU Tutoring. So if you need mathematical help, let Matthew, MathYOU! I found it difficult to balance once the world opened up again, as I wanted to be on the Broadway stage. Now, my desires and knees have changed. I have recently released a MathYOU Tutoring Work/Play Book which can be found on Amazon and is a great resource to keep those fundamental math skills in great shape. Also, streaming on all platforms as of Oct 2nd – “base 10 Shuffle” it’s a fun song I created, along with my little brother and friends, about place value. There’s a dance challenge that goes with it. Give it try. I want to release a math album one day. If you’d like, connect with me on TikTok, YouTube and/or IG: @mathyoututoring.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
My parents taught me the most about work, especially my dad. “The world don’t owe you nothing but a living son and you gotta go out there and make that.” He said that so much and as a child I’d cut my eyes, BUT NOW I know what he means. I had to realize that no one was coming to save me, I had to put on the cape and do it myself. I want to eat, live and have things, I gotta work! I’ve always worked for as long as I could remember. I started at Winn Dixie, but they weren’t giving me enough hours, so I left them for Burger King. I’ve worked in the movie theater concession stand, Ruby Tuesday as a host and server, Sprint call center, Pizza Hut, Uber Eats, Lyft, Catering companies, Photo Booths, wedding bands, tutoring centers, accounting, tour guide at Universal Studios and sooooo much more. My feet are throbbing thinking about these jobs and the slip resistant shoes. Growing up weekends were for chores in the house and cutting grass. Cutting grass wasn’t just our yard, but aunt’s and grandma’s and whoever else would let us. I didn’t enjoy it but my dad LOVES it. I vowed to myself that if getting a house meant cutting grass, I’d live in an apartment forever. I’ve remained true to that. I think the key to working now is working in your purpose so that it doesn’t feel like work. Finding something that even if there was no pay involved, you’d still do it. Granted, most jobs pay poorly so to some extent we are working for free, but that’s a different conversation.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely! There are still times that I want to give up. I just don’t know what giving up looks like. Do I stay in the bed and not answer my phone? Binge watch shows all day? I think living in this 2025 world is such a challenge that waking up and moving the tiniest inch says, I haven’t given up. I moved to NY in 2017 to fully pursue Broadway but had been in some ways pursuing since 2011. I finally achieved it in 2024. 13 years of hoping and praying and wishing and it finally happened. I can remember the nights in my 5th floor walk up apartment during the summer with no a/c in NY wanting to quit and having friends and family that talked me off the ledge each time. My roommate at the time, Colin Heyward, was perfection. We’d dream and talk about being on Broadway and it was so rewarding that when I made my Broadway debut 8 years later he and I were in the show, The Wiz,
together. I was paying $1300 a month for a room inside of an apartment, not the whole place. I wanted to run away and never come back. NY is difficult, expensive, fun, all the things. I knew the cliche “ if you can make it here you can make it anywhere” and the person I was then just couldn’t see how I’d “make it.” I was pounding the pavement, auditioning, working 4-5 jobs to have meager accommodations in pursuit of the dream. The thought was “once I achieve Broadway my phone will ring off the hook and I’ll be in show after show after show.” That’s not the case. This business is fickle. I made my Broadway debut in the revival of The Wiz in 2024 and haven’t had consistent work since. I injured my knee in the show and had to leave the show to have surgery. Once I healed from that and got back in the show, I had to get an appendectomy and from that surgery I got really sick from infection, then on to a vocal injury and DEPRESSION. I was done with it all. I felt forsaken by God. I felt like it was all over for me. I felt as soon as I was healed enough I’d get a job as a full time teacher. I interviewed, but those salaries only made cents and not sense. Then I thought I’d move in with my parents, sleep in their backroom and that’ll be my new definition of “Making it.” I still have moments where i’m tired, i’m done and cant take more. Then I rest, cocoon myself for a bit and get back on the horse. I decided to stay put and someway, somehow some pretty cool things continue to find me. This year I’ve: sang behind Lady Gaga, T-Pain and Bad Bunny at SNL 50, I’ve sang behind Alex Warren on Jimmy Kimmel and Cynthia Erivo in the opening if this year’s Tony Awards and the year isn’t over yet.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends would say that those around me matter most. I think the world of my family and friends and I never want them to suffer or hurt or go without. if I have it, you have it. Except coming to visit and staying in my one bedroom apartment, boundaries. I’ll help them get a hotel room though. I love seeing every one have a good time. They’d say I don’t judge them on things they may feel worst about. They’d also say integrity is as important to me as a laugh. My best friend always comments on how strong I am and if there’s ever a bind or a problem, I will figure it out. I think it’s an honor and privilege to have that skillset, with a math brain, critical thinking comes with the territory. However, I must say, I’m ready to not have to figure it out. I’m ready to coast a bit, get some smooth sailing to become my new norm. People tend to think “oh he’s the strong friend, he’s fine, he’ll be ok.”
That’s not always the case.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
I’d immediately stop paying my school loans and use that money to travel or for a real fierce funeral. I think “I’d stop procrastinating” is the perfect answer but I feel like I’ve actually stopped doing that already. I’d make sure that my people, parents, friends, family, really knew that I loved them. I’d spend as much time as I could with them. I’d visit and call more, I’d plan family vacations and I’d care less about things that really don’t matter.