Meet Hilton George

We recently connected with Hilton George and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Hilton, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I’m working for myself and for a mission that is my passion. The resilience to move through day to day struggle comes from a different place and keeps me going when I otherwise wouldn’t. Being in the right place, with the right mission.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am the owner, creator and co-founder of the largest black nerd convention on the eastern seaboard. Every year, me and my team produce a multifandom convention showcasing and highlighting the contributions and participation of the blerd community in anime, scifi, gaming, music, comics and cosplay.

The mission is to spread as much awareness as possible about out awesome the black nerd fandom is and how many of us undergird the business, communities and infrastructure behind your favorite geekdoms. Seeing the welcoming of new closeted blerds to join the community around their fandom, gives me the most satisfaction.

The idea is to build and grow community around every initiative. That means holding a presence across multiple platforms (in-person and online) and continuously around the calendar in many locations. We are building a VR space extending the Blerdcon experience for those who’d like to engage it and the community multiple times or for the first time. We activate at many events around the country such as other conventions, music festivals, education outreach events and more. Everything is centralized around our website and social media!

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?
I’m a nerd, but an extrovert. I’m an experienced public speaker with 25 years experience in events marketing and management. So when the idea to create this convention came, I had all the core tools to begin. It was immensely helpful that Blerdcon was welcomed by the convention-sunning community who helped guide me in building the infrastructure and guiding a clearer path business model. I also knew that there would be tons of things I didn’t know, and even more that I didn’t know that I didn’t know. So having the expertise of veterans of the business saved us some serious headaches starting off.

My advice is to humble yourself and open up to constructive advice from people who have journied the path you’re hoping to go on. For cons specifically, it’s important to know that most of them fail somewhere along the line before every hiting their opening date. Others peter out after their first run due to unsustainable modeling. Those that make “the cut” still go through a period of struggle in finding it’s niche market, that thing that makes it unique enough from other events to pull from a calendar full of conventions. So don’t plan on making profit, especially if you’re successful and have to spend on growth each year.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
GO ALL IN! As much caution as I preach when it comes to con running, I’m an advocate for betting on yourself with the assets and talent you have. Fate rewards forward motion, even if you have a learning curve to stay ahead of. There is never a perfect time to do anything. So you have to sometimes “fake it til you make it”, moving confidently ahead toward your goals and dreams. When it comes to life and business, you can control every aspect of your environment except TIME. So waiting is always a losing prospect if rooted in fear and insecurity. Discretion is still the better part of valor, and being judicious with timing is a wise move. But if you are truly passionate about an idea, or a dream, getting started can be the toughest thing to do. But all great things begin with a start.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Leadership Development
Empathy Unlocked: Understanding how to Develop Emotional Intelligence

“Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus

Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Boosting Productivity Through Self-Care

When you have a never-ending to-do list it can feel irresponsible to engage in self-care,