HI I’m James Williams

JAMES WILLIAMS IS A PROFESSOR, ENTREPRENEUR, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, ACTOR, INTERNATIONAL TEACHING STRATEGIST, BUSINESS STRATEGIST, AND ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP SPEAKERSDr. Williams is a man who wore a mask for many years, by masking himself as a thug. He lost his virginity at 13 to avoid teasing from his peers, and he started selling crack at 13 to appear hardcore among his middle school peers. Ultimately, these poor decisions and his negative perpetual way of thinking led him to dropping out of school and running away from home at 16 years old. He had two kids at 17 years of age and dedicated his time to street life with the BLOODS while living in Fayetteville, NC until almost claiming someone’s life at the age of 19.That is when his unmasking begin…unmask means to expose one’s true character or hidden truths about one’s authentic nature. This proactive way of thinking led him to a successful United States Air Force career (Airman of the Year), six college degrees (two doctorates), professional arena football, bestselling author, and proven scholar in the field of leadership.>DR. WILLIAMS AS A SCHOLARDr. James Williams lives in Knoxville, TN, where he serves as an associate (tenured) professor at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Williams also serves as the president/owner of UnmaskYTP, LLC consulting. He has a loving wife (LaToya) and four amazing children (Jocelyn, JasBrianna, Tia, and Jay). Dr. Williams has published a plethora of refereed scholarly articles and papers on myriad of topics: hospitality leadership, education, tourism, transformational leadership, soft skills, sports impact on leadership, business ethics, and emotional intelligence. He graduated from Park University (BS in Management/CIS), Central Michigan University (MS in administration), and Iowa State University (PhD in Hospitality Management). He is also a certified hospitality educator.Recently, Dr. Williams has released, “Check Your Life: Be Limitless” a highly anticipated read that is based on his Tedx Talk. Dr. Williams wrote two amazon bestsellers From Thug to Scholar: An Odyssey to Unmask my True Potential and Flab to Abs, to complete the mind and body aspect of his mind, body, and spirit approach to life. Dr. Williams is an energetic and passionate speaker who provides personal anecdotes, critical thinking, statistics and/or research, and thought-provoking statements to incite his audience to “Check Your Life” (introspection); so they can find their way to their inner God, energy, spirit, life, or infinite source of everything for peace, love, and joy. This will liberate them to unmask their true potential.Dr. Williams has performed as a Keynote speaker for graduations, prisons, fortune 100 businesses, churches, school systems, sororities/fraternities, sports camps, university athletic programs; and he has won numerous speech competitions for Toastmaster’s International. Currently, Dr. Williams serves as an international speaker: Barcelona, Bulgaria, Paris, Valencia, London, and China.Below is a news interview about my concept of being masked, gangs, and my book:http://www.wbir.com/news/local/five-at-four/author-talks-about-gang-violence/9932603