Meet Bk Fulton

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bk Fulton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with BK below.

BK, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

I started reading books that helped to inform my place in the world. These books affirmed my existence as an African American. Once my confidence was firm, I began to read about all kinds of subjects and people. These additional books helped my confidence to sore! I had become a more self-aware and active human being, capable of doing anything anyone else had done. Readers become leaders. What you read impacts your path and choices. I now read about 6-7 books per month. Our projects impact millions. Accordingly, I take my creative and professional expressions very seriously, while still allowing room for fun. Life is meant to be enjoyed. I’m living my best life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a romantic at heart. After retiring in 2015 from running a little phone company called Verizon, I decided that God was not done with me yet and I started a production company to help bring people together. Soulidifly Productions exists to change the narrative on storytelling as it relates to images of inclusion and collaboration to achieve just ends. We make films and produce Broadway shows in all genres. I love comedy and biographies, so a lot of our work uses humor woven into personal stories to lift audiences to a higher understanding of what it means to be human. We worked on The Piano Lesson – the highest grossing Broadway revival of all time; The Wiz; and The Outsiders, which won 4 Tony Awards including Best Musical in 2024. My last film was The Kill Room with Uma Thurman and Samuel Jackson. I expect to release my 20th book – The Blueprint Part 2: Sheroes & Heroes – in Nov. 2024. Future projects include a sequel to March of the Penguins called Lions of the Sea, a documentary about W.E.B. Du Bois, and a Broadway show about and titled ALI.

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?

Wow, that’s a big question. First, I think knowledge of self, reading about people that looked like me was critical. When people identify with what they take in from media or books, they are 3 to 10 times more likely to believe they can do what the characters they identify with can do. The next big thing that impacted my journey was meeting people like Nikki Giovanni who was my poetry professor at Virginia Tech. She helped me to learn how to use my voice and my words to impact change. She is now a cherished mentor and friend. Last, meeting my soulmate – Jackie Stone – taught me the power of love. Love really is the secret ingredient. We do all of our work from an authentic place filled with love. Our viewers and readers say they can feel it. I think it’s what makes our shows winners. We’ve had high performing art on all of the main stages in the world and it makes me proud. Jackie is now my wife.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

I read a lot of books and many of them have had a profound impact on me. Lately, I’ve been reading and giving out a book called Men of Mark by Rev. William Simmons, Ph.D. He was a mentor to people like Ida B. Wells and many other pioneers. He wrote the book when he was President of Kentucky State University in the late 1800s. The book is over 1,300 pages of essays about successful Black men no more than 25 years outside of bondage. He wrote the book to show his students what was possible, as he observed that most of them had no idea of the accomplishments of people who looked like them. Imagery and iconography are powerful tools that can be used to shape leaders who will go on to impact our world in substantial ways. Men of Mark reinforced my belief that a man who looked like me can do anything any other man (or woman) can do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bkfulton.com
• Instagram: @bkfulton
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bkfulton
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ bk-fulton-1072014
• Twitter: @bkfulton