ABOUT WIL

Who is Wil? Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, I am now a parent to an amazing three year old son, Sean Jordan, as well as a newborn, Aidan Lawrence, who was born in November 2012. I’m the husband to a woman who is so far out of my league that it’s almost laughable. Yet, we’ve been together for over a dozen unbelievable years. Lastly, I’m a sales and business development professional who has spent the majority of my career in media.

Side note: I originally wrote this in third person, but felt it sounded pretentious. At least 90% of us write our own bios, but do so as if someone else wrote it about us. I’m not popular enough for anybody to write a bio about me. Besides, nobody knows the details of my life better than I do, so I figured I’d rewrite it from my own perspective instead of pretending the way everyone else does.

I began my media career in 2000 with SFX/Clear Channel Entertainment as a client liaison, negotiating minor deals and improving brand awareness for clients such as Rick Reilly, Meredith Vieira and Judge Glenda Hatchett. This is where I began sharpening my negotiating tactics and dealing with talent.

Actually, let me rewind a bit. At seventeen, I moved out of my mother’s apartment and finished high school on my own. I toiled around in some entry level positions, where I learned office etiquette and the importance of relationship building. I was promoted out of the mailroom of The Related Companies by a woman in Accounts Payable named Laura Horton whom I had befriended. She became my first mentor.

Having been deprived of a college education, I felt it necessary to out-work those around me. What I lacked in degrees, I would make up for with an insatiable desire to learn, succeed and network. That, together with experience, would carry me throughout my career.

(Sidenote 2: I have since enrolled in college and am studying Business Administration and Economics.)

My entire team at Clear Channel was laid off following the tragedies of 9/11. I decided the next step of my career would be in television.I began working with Sony/Game Show Network in early 2002, where I had the opportunity to refine my newly developed skills in sales and marketing. After four years, I would move on to become Executive Director of Distribution at Bloomberg Television, where I would head up our sales and marketing efforts for the Western Region.

In 2004, I founded Culture VI Records, Inc., naming it after the group that I had started back in 1994 (I still have tapes that are nearly 20 years old of songs and freestyles that I’m yelling “Culture VI” on). Using many of the talents I learned during my early years in media, I was able to guide our independent hip-hop label to four album releases, selling in excess of 14,000 units. Not a huge number, but still about 14,000 more than I had ever thought I’d sell. The twelve artist label has also released dozens of mixtapes and over 900 songs during my tenure.

In 2005, I had the opportunity to write my first record as a ghostwriter. It was part of an album that sold over 600,000 units. Though other opportunities would follow, I would end up putting music to the side after hearing my mother had been diagnosed with cancer. She passed away on September 20th, 2006 following eight months of suffering. This marked the unofficial end of my pursuit of music as a profession.

In 2008, I finally finished my second solo album “ninety-four”, four years after I started writing it. Though I had the amazing fortune of working with artists such as Joe Budden, Royce da 5’9” and Wordsworth on the project, I didn’t make any marketing push for the album. I simply released it as a way of having my thoughts recorded for prosperity.

I then created Culture VI Experience, a series of over two dozen webisodes that feature interviews with successful musicians, which have currently received over a million views and have been syndicated on hundreds of media outlets over the past two years.

Following “ninety-four”, I was asked by my close friend and artist of eight years John Regan to executive produce his debut solo effort “Sorry I’m Late”. Two years later, the album was released to critical acclaim and featured some of hip-hop and R&B’s most talented performers, such as Marsha Ambrosius, Joell Ortiz, Nottz, 88-Keys, Needlz, Skyzoo and others. It earned tremenous reviews from such media outlets as HipHopDX and RapReviews.com. It remains the crown jewel of my music “career”/hobby. Putting together a project of that caliber and quality is something I will forever cherish. I personally dedicated the album to my best friend, mentor and Culture VI Artist Mateo Mulcare (Kas), founder of Plush Magazine, who passed away during the recording process.

On November 3rd, 2010, my father also passed away suddenly. It was then that I decided to end all other ventures outside of my career and focus solely on raising my son(s), Sean Jordan. My wife and I bought a house in Charlotte, NC, taking a huge leap of faith. At the time, my responsibilites at Bloomberg Television required me to travel to the west coast nearly every week, leaving very little time for my family. My goal was to secure a position locally with Time Warner Cable, which I did, after a few months of searching, I was fortunate enough to find the perfect position. I was hired to manage Time Warner Cable’s University Accounts team where i would oversee four Account Executives. It would be an increase in my responsibilities, a step up in my career, and would allow me to be close to my family. I was promoted after eleven months and asked to run a separate team concurrently. Unfortunately, I was impacted during a recent restructuring this past May.

I’m currently enjoying time with my family. Both of my boys, along with my wife, are everything to me. As long as they’re happy and healthy, I have no worries or stresses.

After stepping away from creating music, I finally decided to share my thoughts and experiences with other aspiring artists in the hopes that I can make some small difference in the industry that I love. Welcome to Culture VI Experience.