Today we’d like to introduce you to Keron Williams.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Keron. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I grew up in a single parent household in West Palm Beach Fl, where after one year of high school football, I was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Massachusetts. My experience at Umass completely changed my life. Needless to say, I had a pretty rough academic start, closing out my freshman semester with a 0.75 GPA. My focus at the time was completely engulfed in playing football at the collagen and professional level. I quickly found out the value of keeping up with my grades when the reality of academic probation surfaced in my mailbox. The gravity of me losing everything I worked for while acquiring the label of being deemed a failure to me two younger brothers was the wakeup call that I needed.
Following that semester, I spent every summer and winter break enrolled in classes to make up the deficit that I irresponsibly put myself in. I was issued a mentor in the Art department who took note of my attention to detail and told me that art was my true gift. I later went on to graduate with my degree in fine arts, but this however served as a place holder as my initial goal was coming to fruition. I got an opportunity to play both in the NFL and the CFL for a combined nine years, and I accomplished a lot during my career. Named a perennial all-pro, winning multiple championships and discovering my passion in the offseason.
As a rookie a would give haircuts to some of my teammates to earn a little extra cash, and as much as my feet would hurt after those long practices, the tips from all that hair being cut was worth it. During this time of me being the team barber, some of the guys took note to my intensive attention to detail. They would ask me if I knew how to draw or design, earnestly seeking what else was I capable of doing. This was where I saw my window of opportunity to move beyond a football player that cuts hair. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I started making highlight tapes, websites, posters and t-shirt designs, stretching the limits of my craft yet all the while grooming in myself for life after the game.
During my final season, the word got out around the league due to me being selected by New Era hat company to design a series of team player ball caps. I was approached by a committee member who gave me an opportunity to design and brand the 2014 CLF (Canadian Football League) championship festival logo and theme of which generated over $170 million in tourist attraction and merchandise. When the time came for me to reveal what I created in front of a room filled with dignitaries, I was overwhelmed with humility and determination. It was clear to me that the thing I was fighting for the most, would only serve as a stepping stone for me to accomplish my true calling in being a user-centered creative designer.
On every team I’ve ever played for, I was selected to be a team captain. Not only because I was a great athlete, but because I took the time to listen and communicate with people from different walks of life to understand how my style of play could complement theirs, ultimately producing the best out of that person as well as myself. I believe this method serves as a major key to my designing approach. Football taught me discipline and execution; however, my biggest lesson was to empathize and assist in problem-solving. I was able to take this same approach while mentoring kids and helping them to identify their purpose simply from listening and identifying.
Today in any business, you have to understand your target market, especially in our world of technology when things are rapidly changing. Being a creative person is one aspect, but having grit, a competitive nature, and genuine care for people has helped me shape my destiny and always serves to remind me of how blessed I am to do something that I love for the second time around. My wife and I took a leap of faith when we moved from Orlando, Florida to Houston, Texas. Since moving here so many doors have been opened, from the acquisition of businesses to being named the 2019 Millennial on the Move, a title I don’t take for granted. My
experiences have taught me that humility, gratitude, and determination can take you very far. This is ultimately what fuels me to be my absolute best each and every day.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing worth having comes easy. My journey has not always been a bed of roses, I’ve had some pretty difficult periods where I wondered if I am meant to do this. Some of the struggles I encountered were for my benefit, while others were counted as a loss. Leaving everything behind in Florida and relocating to Texas was a big transition. Understanding the business culture was a challenge as well, and that is something I recognize from the very start. One of my biggest challenges when we first started out was hemorrhaging capital that wasn’t coming in to keep the business from sinking. I had to learn to adjust and reinvent myself without losing my creative direction. Looking back at it now, the difficult time serves as a reference because difficult times are inevitable; how you deal with them makes all the difference.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with KDW Designs – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
KDW Designs is a digital creative branding and website design studio. We make it our priority to create beautiful User-Centered applications that deliver an intuitive, organic experience. Our passion for branding and flair for unique aesthetic designs stems from a sharp and simple focus on what truly matters… People! We enjoy the challenges that come with analyzing problems and collaborating with clients and partners to identify solutions at both a strategic and functional level.
What separates us as a company is our ability to comprehend the full scope of a project and align the client’s expectations with currents events that will make their aesthetic depiction relevant to their targeted market and bottom line.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My future plans are to continue to develop strong business relationships to expand and grow our company. We are planning to incorporate the method of Artificial intelligence into our development structure to assist our clients with more robust automotive technology.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kerondwilliams.com
- Phone: 4079073410
- Email: kwilliams@kerondwilliams.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kdwdevs
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/kdwdevs
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/keronwilliams9
Image Credit:
Story book of love. Spokeo.
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