This is Real! This is Me!
My name is Conner Williams. I am from Richmond, Virginia. I spent a few years living in Savannah, Georgia while attending the Savannah College of Art and Design. At SCAD, I achieved a Bachelors degree in Advertising and Branding with a concentration in Art Direction. Before that, earned a Bachelors degree from Hampden-Sydney College in Visual Arts with a specialty in painting and a minor in Rhetoric. I now live in Nashville, Tennessee with my beautiful fiancé and our little white fluff-ball Kali.
I love sports, but mostly hockey (Go Caps!) and football (Go Browns!). I also enjoy playing sports and being active. I am am always down for a round of Disc Golf. I am a total cinephile and could talk for hours about movies. I have a permanent travel bug and love going and exploring new places! Only need 7 more states before I have been to all 50!
How I got where I am now!
I was born in Winchester, VA and lived in Bunker Hill, WV until when I moved to Richmond, VA. I started my schooling career at St. Christopher's School. I attended this all-male private school from Kindergarten through my senior year of high school. During these years at the same institution, I had many interests. One in particular being art: painting, drawing, etc. During my elementary and middle school years, I used to take private art lessons where I would use pastels to create works. My favorite subject was dogs.
Once I started high school, I found it difficult to concentrate on art as a passion due to a rigorous school schedule and sports. I worked at my new passion which was science, chemistry to be more specific. After high school, I attended the wonderful Hampden-Sydney College, a small all-male college right outside of Farmville, VA. I went in originally as a Chemistry major. After taking some classes I realized that chemistry was no longer for me. I changed my major to Psychology because I find it fascinating to learn about the way people think. In a meeting with my advisor, she asked to see some of my artwork and I showed her some from a core art class I was taking. She told me at that moment that I needed to change my major to Visual Arts or I was wasting my time. I then changed my major to Visual Arts with a specialty in Painting as well as a minor in Rhetoric. Rhetoric was stressed at my alma mater because it taught us how to use our words, written or spoken, usefully and correctly. It was even described to me as "the art of argument and persuasion"
It was then that I decided to look into what career path I wanted to pursue. I asked myself, "what kind of work could I use visual art in order to persuade?"
The answer: Advertising!
From this moment on, I decided to pursue a career in advertising with a concentration in Art Direction. I applied to 2 schools and was accepted to the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Here I have been able to flourish and really explore the talents and skills that it takes to become a successful Art Director. My goal was to be able to make a truly successful Ad campaign that becomes a symbol for a company or product. I wanted someone to see my work and recognize it.
I worked hard to make my dream become a reality, but breaking out into the advertising world was harder than it seemed. I moved back to Richmond and worked to get my portfolio organized (It has come a long way since I started). And apply to countless jobs. The most important thing I learned during this process was it is a little about what you know, but more about WHO you know. I talked to a young adult leader from my church in Savannah who knew a friend looking for motion graphic designers and ended up getting an internship with an NIL agency in Texas, that let me work remotely to boost college athletes hype and promo videos. Once I moved on from that, my uncle knew someone who needed help with a start-up energy company. I helped them name their company as well as designed their logo and built their entire brand guideline. It was then, a friend from SCAD reached out asking if I was still open to work and she had mentioned my name at her company, MARS Pet Care. I met with a few of the people, who would unbeknownst soon be my bosses, and two weeks later I packed up and moved to Nashville!
