Meet Coach Lawrence II

We were lucky to catch up with Coach Lawrence recently and have shared our conversation below.

Coach Lawrence, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

If I were to be honest with myself, I knew my purpose back when I was in college. The reality is there is a difference between knowing your purpose and accepting your purpose. I knew that I was called to serve, empower, and inspire young people back way back when I was a young man on “The Hill”, also known as the campus of Alabama A&M University. I had other plans. Plans to be a real estate icon and entrepreneur. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I ignored my purpose.

It wasn’t until I experienced what I call the biggest failure in my life that I decided to fully accept my purpose. When my family business, Gravity Indoor Trampoline Park had to close its doors in 2021 due to COVID I was forced to really search myself and ask, “what are you doing?” It was my wife that spoke to me one night and she said, “you know you are supposed to be doing My BRAND.” Something I created for use inside the walls of a school, my wife encouraged and pushed me to break it out of the walls and bring it to the world.

It was in the midst of that failure and in my moment of not knowing what to do next that I fully accepted and embraced the purpose God placed on my life. It was also during that moment when I finally accepted the opportunity to be the Student & Young Adult Pastor at New Mercies Christian Church. Something I had been avoiding for close to 7 years. It was my failure that pushed my right where God needed me to be all this time.

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?

There aren’t too many things better than waking up doing what you love. I have the pleasure of being the Student & Young Adult Pastor at New Mercies Christian Church. A place where I served as a volunteer in this area for about 19 years. It has been more than a place that I call home. I met my wife, Kenitra Williams while we were both volunteers for the students. Our family was started here and there are so many people who have become like family.

I get the great opportunity to connect and build relationships with students who are members of our church and students who aren’t. One of the best parts about what I do is having the opportunity to connect and build relationships with students and student-athletes in our neighboring schools here in Gwinnett County.

In addition to what I do at New Mercies I am also the Founder and Speaker for My BRAND. It’s an empowerment and inspiration company for students in middle school – college. This is my baby! It’s something I started in a classroom at a middle school in Fulton County Schools in 2015. It started as a club and eventually grew into an actual class where the students were given credit for a Health Class. The class was geared towards students who had academic or behavioral challenges.

In 2021, I tool My BRAND from just being something that was designed for one school and framed it for something that could be for any and every student. I now have the awesome opportunity to speak to students at schools, youth conferences, youth organizations, graduations, athletic events, and anywhere people believe that I can empower and inspire their students.

One of the things that we offer through My BRAND that I love is The Huddle on the My BRAND App. One of the things I realized is that for the most part the only time a student can interact with me is when I have been booked to speak at their school or event. Through The Huddle on the My BRAND App, students from anywhere can access interaction with me on a daily basis through the recorded messages and live schedules virtual sessions.

Something I am looking forward to is what we call Film Session. This is going to be our curriculum that My BRAND will offer schools all over. It will be geared toward those students in schools that are having the academic or behavioral challenges. We get an opportunity to get back to foundation of what My BRAND was created for. What was built for students in one school will now be made available to schools everywhere.

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?

The three most important qualities, skills, or area of knowledge that have been most impactful along my journey have been learning how to respond to failure and adversity, the necessity to develop good habits and a routine, and my faith in Jesus Christ being at the center of who I am and everything I am doing.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

As I really look back over the last 12 months, I have really grown in the area of sticking to the plan. I can admit that I was one that would deviate and move to the next thing or next opportunity if I didn’t see immediate results or changes quickly. One of the things that’s undefeated is hard work and consistency. The reality that I have learned is there are no dreams or goals we can put in the microwave that will come to past.

One of the things that I had to really get down was my routine. I had to first identify what I want and the route to get there. I now understand that it’s through my consistency and dedication to what I said I wanted and the route to get there that I have to remain focused on. If I focus on the results, I can find myself deviating or moving on to the next thing. As the saying says, just keep your head down and do the work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.itsmybrand.org
• Instagram: @1coachlawrence
• Facebook: @1coachlawrence
• Linkedin: Coach Lawrence Williams
• Twitter: @1coachlawrence
• Youtube: @youareabrand