Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan B. Williams.
Hi Jonathan B., thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My journey has always been rooted in performance, personal development, and helping people recognize what they’re capable of becoming.
I started as an athlete at the University of Houston, where I competed in track and field as a long and triple jumper. My time as a student-athlete taught me some of my earliest lessons in discipline, resilience, leadership, and performance. I eventually had the opportunity to play football during a redshirt season before returning to track and field, where I finished my collegiate career with four conference championships and competed nationally among some of the best athletes in the country.
After college, I turned that experience into a career in wellness and human performance. I spent more than 12 years working in corporate wellness, training clients, developing staff, and managing programs for major organizations. As an EXOS Performance Specialist, I specialized in body-type training and progressive overload while combining the EXOS methodology with my own experience and continued research. That experience taught me that performance isn’t limited to the gym. The same principles that help an athlete improve physically can also help people become more effective professionals, leaders, and human beings.
Over time, my work naturally expanded beyond physical performance. I became a certified life coach, university professor and academic advisor, and eventually began focusing more heavily on personal development, communication, leadership, and helping high achievers turn potential into action.
Public speaking became another extension of that work. Whether I’m leading a workshop, speaking to students, working with professionals, or sharing ideas through my podcast, *UFO (Unpopular Forward Opinion)*, I enjoy challenging people to think differently and giving them practical tools they can actually use.
That philosophy also led me to found AFTLETE, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on helping former athletes navigate life beyond competition. I’ve seen firsthand how difficult the transition can be when an identity that has been built around sport suddenly changes. AFTLETE exists to help athletes recognize that their value didn’t end when their playing career did. It simply needs to be translated into a new arena.
My journey also took an unexpected turn when a routine annual physical in 2025 revealed something I never knew was there. I had no symptoms or discomfort, but that commitment to routine health led to a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. After undergoing treatment at MD Anderson, I’m now in remission. That experience reinforced something I’ve believed throughout my career: you cannot take your health, your time, or your potential for granted.
Today, I see my work as a combination of all those chapters: athlete, performance specialist, coach, professor, speaker, entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, and cancer survivor. None of them are separate identities to me. They’re different expressions of the same mission: helping people understand themselves, develop their strengths, navigate adversity, and move forward with greater clarity and intention.
And Houston has been at the center of much of that journey. It’s where I became an athlete, built my career, developed my voice, and continue to invest in the people and communities around me.
I’m still building. But now I have a much clearer understanding of what I’m building for.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all, and honestly, I’m grateful for that.
My journey has been shaped by a series of transitions that forced me to redefine what success meant at different stages of my life. As a collegiate athlete at the University of Houston, I experienced a major pectoral injury that cost me my track scholarship and forced me to transfer from Texas State. I had to rebuild, adapt, and find another path forward.
At Houston, I was fortunate enough to compete in football during my redshirt season before returning to track and field, where I eventually won four conference championships and competed nationally in the long and triple jump.
Then came another major transition: life after sports.
For years, my identity had been built around being an athlete. When that chapter ended, I had to figure out how to translate the discipline, competitiveness, and leadership I developed through sports into a career. That led me into wellness and human performance, where I spent more than 12 years managing corporate wellness programs, training clients, and developing staff.
More recently, I faced perhaps the most unexpected challenge of my life. During a routine annual physical in 2025, despite having no symptoms or discomfort, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. That began an entirely different kind of performance journey, one that required patience, resilience, perspective, and trust. After treatment at MD Anderson, I am now in remission.
Each chapter taught me something different. Injuries taught me adaptability. Sports taught me discipline. Transition taught me identity. Cancer taught me perspective.
The road hasn’t been smooth. But I’ve learned that a meaningful life isn’t built by avoiding difficult roads. It’s built by learning how to navigate them.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Today, my work sits at the intersection of performance, personal development, leadership, and storytelling.
I’m a public speaker, certified life coach, university professor and academic advisor, former EXOS Performance Specialist, and founder of AFTLETE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on helping former athletes successfully navigate life beyond sports.
As a speaker and coach, I specialize in helping people move from potential to purposeful action. My work often centers around self-awareness, confidence, communication, leadership, personal branding, and building practical systems that help people follow through.
My background in human performance heavily influences how I approach personal development. I don’t believe motivation is enough. I’ve spent too much time around athletes and high performers to believe that simply telling someone to “work harder” solves the problem. People need clarity, structure, accountability, and an environment that allows them to develop.
I’m particularly passionate about working with young professionals, students, athletes, and high achievers who know they have more to offer but haven’t necessarily figured out how to translate that potential into their next chapter.
I’m most proud of AFTLETE because it represents something deeply personal. I understand the transition out of sports because I’ve lived it. AFTLETE gives former athletes a place to recognize that their athletic identity may change, but their value doesn’t disappear.
What sets me apart is the combination of experiences I bring into the room. I’ve been the athlete, the coach, the professor, the entrepreneur, the speaker, and now the cancer survivor. I don’t approach personal development from a textbook alone. I approach it through lived experience, professional expertise, and a genuine commitment to helping people become more capable of navigating their own lives.
How do you think about luck?
Luck has absolutely played a role in my life, but I’ve learned not to confuse opportunity with preparation.
I’ve been fortunate to have people open doors for me at important moments. Transferring to the University of Houston created opportunities I couldn’t have predicted.
Being given the chance to play football during my redshirt season was unexpected. Meeting mentors, landing professional opportunities, building relationships in Houston, and eventually creating AFTLETE all involved circumstances I couldn’t completely control.
But I’ve also experienced the other side of luck.
Getting injured and losing my scholarship wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma after a routine physical. Those moments reminded me that life doesn’t always ask permission before changing the game.
What I’ve learned is that luck creates moments, but preparation determines what you do with them.
You can’t control every opportunity that comes your way. You can’t control every setback either. But you can control whether you’re prepared when the door opens and whether you’re willing to adapt when the door closes.
That’s probably one of the biggest principles I carry into my work today: stay ready, stay curious, and don’t become so attached to your original plan that you miss the opportunity sitting inside the unexpected one.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jonathanbricewilliams.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanbricewilliams
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbwilliams1/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JonathanBWilliams
