EP 62 WILL TOMS

William Tyrone Toms is a 30-something award-winning entrepreneur from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After starting his first company at the age of 21, Will Toms has quickly made a name for himself in the region's startup community at the intersection of culture & economics. He is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer of REC Philly, serving as the visionary + strategist behind the company’s endeavors. In under four short years he and his business partner Dave Silver have grown REC to almost 20 employees and raised over $3M dollars to scale their socially-driven business model from a warehouse in North Philadelphia to a state-of-the-art facility in Center City. Will’s vision is to scale REC’s model of “a gym membership for creatives” to span across international communities, establishing a network of 100,000 independent creators that all have access to the resources, strategies and opportunities necessary to own their future. Before REC, Will served day to day as a digital strategist at Fame House, developing and executing marketing campaigns for entertainment brands including Ice Cube, Shady Records & Eminem. He currently serves as a board member of three non-profit organizations fighting structural inequality, food insecurity in inner-city neighborhoods and more. In 2019, William accepted a nomination to join the leadership council of the Philadelphia Global Identity Partnership-- a public-private partnership created to help rebrand his beloved city of Philadelphia to the world. With his background in communication and economics, William takes pride in ensuring that all of his efforts are centered around democratizing access and opportunity for young, passionate people of color. SEE THE VIDEO INTERVIEW HERE