Meet Julian Thomas

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julian Thomas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Julian, 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?

Being a Leo, I jokingly like to say that my confidence is innate. But in reality, it was a skill that needed to developed overtime.
I think what has been the most effective way for me to develop confidence is 1). practice and 2) no overthinking.

With constant practice, whatever I’m practicing for eventually becomes second-nature. Lets say I’m doing something on-camera that requires dialogue: I’ll practice over and over again, until it becomes second-nature; to the point where I have no choice but to feel confident in it because I know it like the back of my hand. Basically, I’m a repetitive learning and that is where my confidence comes from.

With that being said, when I encounter a task where I do not have much experience in, I’m of course goiing to find it difficult to be confident in it. In that instance, I like to immediately accept that I won’t be good at it. Doing this allows for me to lower my expectations, which takes the pressure off of things. This is what I mean when I say “no overthinking”.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, I am a content creator focusing on DIY and home lifestyle content. I’m better known as “The Internet’s Favorite Home Boy” and I’ve been fortunate enough to have been recognized as such from the likes of Architectural Digest, HGTV and many other media outlets.

When I’m not painting, cleaning or building something around my Brooklyn bachelor pad, you can find me shmoozing with editors, journalists and other tastemakers all around NYC, as I moonlight as a freelance publicist for various brands (and myself) doing business as Told By Thomas LLC.

I use my platform to entertain, inspire and educate other young folks on how to become self-sustaining adults in an ever-demanding world.

I pride myself on shedding the stigma of gender norms and toxic-masculinity when it comes to homemaking, adulthood and creativity .

As a Leo Sun and Virgo Moon (whatever that means), sitting still is not my forte. I keep busy by creating, hanging out with friends, traveling and trying all of the food and experiences NYC (and the world) has to offer.

As for what’s next, I’m looking to continue to grow my brand, especially in front of the camera via more elevated/professional on-camera opportunities. Who knows, maybe even my own home improvement show later down the road 🙂

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey were as follows:

Strategic Proactivity: Not to sound cliche, but closed mouths do not get feed. I’ve learned very early in my career that I I want a desired outcome, I need to plan from beginning to end on how I’m going to achieve it. This can best been seen in my progressive career. Every professional role I’ve gotten, I had to be the one to research who was hiring for it, figure out that person’s email, and reach out accordingly.

This sounds so simple, but being proactive and taking initiative is a very sustainable way to quick success. Again, I hate to be cliche, but you really do miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. If something doesn’t pan out as expected, at least you can feel good in the fact that you at least tried.

Fearlessness: Echoing the above, you gotta be bold in order to be proactive. Meaning, you have to be willing to put your pride to the side and accept that you might fail and/or look silly. I like to think that accepting this gets better with age. The most ambitious people out there, are also the most courageous.

Professional Code Switching: Simply put, play the game. Sometimes you have to play the part that people expect of you, especially at a young age (and especially if you happen to be from a marginalized group). I started off in corporate America while I was in college. So while it was hard at first having to dim my young, vibrant light just to better fit into the workplace, doing that set me up for a great future—one where I don’t have to code switch as much anymore.

Yes, respectability politics in a professional sense can be frustrating and stifling, but it can also help you establish trustworthiness with those who can propel much further in life. Play the game.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me was help me move to NYC. I know how blessed and fortunate I was to have been able to do that, and its something I do not take for granted.

My parents trusted that I would not let their investment go to waste, and lets just say, they’ve definitely gotten a good ROI out of it 🙂

Contact Info:

Image Credits

1. The Drew Barrymore Show 2. The Drew Barrymore Show 3. Conde Nast 4. Conde Nast

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