Today we’d like to introduce you to Bo Talley Williams.
Bo, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in a household were giving was living. Meaning it was better to give than to receive. My grandmother helped raise me with my awesome mom. My grandmother was like the grandmother to everyone in our neighborhood. She was a maid for most of her life taking care of prominent white peoples families. She would always come home with something from work to give her children & her grand children. She had 10 children total and I believe 20 to 24 grand children. And a bunch of great and great great grandchildren.
My grandmother didn’t have much but she would give her last to anyone that really needed it. She was just a care giver to all and thats what I wanted to be, A selfless giver to those in need. To make a long story short, years past and my grand mother got really ill, she had a stroke and she wasn’t able to do the things she use to do. When she fell ill it was devastating to our family because clearly she was the GLUE and the ROCK of our family. She made sure to keep us all together. Watching my grandmother go through her illness lit a spark in me to start my 1st non profit organization called TAKE THE TIME FOUNDATION. We choose that name because my grandmother would always say “TAKE THE TIME FOR OTHERS and LEARN TO DO SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE ELSE”. I formed this non profit with my 4 children, Cameron Hill, Adria Hill, D’aron Hill and Khali Hill. We started Take the Time foundation with a mission just to do that TAKE THE TIME FOR OTHERS. Since 2005 we have been serving our communities state wide by helping in hard times of need and letting them know some people “DO CARE”.
Years later we found ourselves forming another non profit organization called BALLING FOR LUPUS LUVS FOUNDATION INC. Out of all my grandmothers 10 children her oldest daughter passed away from what is now called Lupus. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs). Decades later after the passing of my Aunt Jacqueline Talley, our family was hit with devastating news. My oldest cousin, (who is my Aunt Jackie’s daughter)was diagnosed with lupus as well. My aunts death and my cousins diagnosis along with meeting a lot of total strangers with lupus amped my family to help bring more awareness to this awful disease. The more I learned about lupus the more I had to help do something and bring awareness.
When we started Balling For Lupus Luvs Foundation, we wanted to think of the most creative way to bring awareness to Lupus. Being the wife of a professional basketball coach (WNBA Coach Fred Williams). My husband has been the general manager and head coach of the WNBA team the Atlanta Dream, and the head coach of the former WNBA team the Tulsa Shock now called the Dallas Wings. So with all the basketball knowledge my husband has we came up with the idea to do an all female celebrity charity basketball game. Which is the first it is kind bringing only female celebrities and influencers together to play a game of basketball for charity. We are grateful that these amazing celebrities and influencers allows us to use their celebrity to help bring awareness to Lupus. Our organization was founded in 2014 and still going strong today. We are now preparing for our 6th Annual Balling For Lupus Luvs Foundation charity basketball game.
Some of our celebrity coaches have been Latavia Roberson former Destinys Child singer, Debra Antney, Music Mogul and television star of WE TV’s Growing Up Hip-Hop Atlanta and VH1’s Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta, Towanda Braxton Actress, Singer and television star from WeTv’s The Braxton Family Values, Dwight Howard NBA Star & philanthropist, (who was our 1st ever male coach), Momma Dee television star from VH1’s Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta, Tiffany Hayes WNBA Atlanta Dream player, Cheryl Ford WNBA Champion and more just to name a few. Every year we’ve had a host of celebrities players in the past six years to participate in our annual charity events.
My background is Entertainment. I grew up singing at a very young age. Gospel was the genre of music that I would sing. I started singing with a group of female friends from around my neighborhood. We all grew up singing in the church choirs, jr. high and high school events, county fairs, state talent showcases, winning most of them. It was so much fun and doing those things sparked the opportunity for our group to sing in front of R&B legend Cherrelle after participating in a major talent show. The gospel group was called Sisters 8 and then we changed our name to Essence of Ebony because we wanted to became more of an RnB Group. As we got older and found other interest our group grew up and grew apart and I became a solo artist. As a solo artist I would perform at a lot at open mic talent showcases, any and everywhere that I could. I would do local open mics and talent shows throughout the Atlanta Ga Metroplex and in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Singing at places like Rays in the Alley, small clubs (I can’t remember all the names Lol) and venues all over the city.
Those experiences lead me to become a professional singer. I was signed to a independent label that had distribution with a major record label. On that Journey to becoming a professional singer I’ve had the honor and privilege to collaborate with some amazing vocal artists. I lived in California at the time when I was really serious about my music career and that gave me that extra lead way to the music industry. I did a collaborations with few San Francisco bay area and Los Angeles rappers. I really wish I had all the work that I’ve done but there’s a whole story behind that too, (LOL). I did a collaboration with a rapper who’s song actually made it to radio, which included me on it. I remember the day so clear, some friends at the time had called me from Los-Angeles telling me that they heard the song on the radio several times. I was super excited that I called everyone I knew and had yet to hear it on the radio myself (Lol) I remember calling home to Alabama speaking to my mother and family telling them about it, because I was so happy. You would have thought I won the lottery I was so happy. It was a moment were you could finally say MAMA I was on the radio LOL. I will never forget that day.
After years of dealing with the music industry and trying to make my mark, I actually became uninterested. I am mother of four children at the time and my children were very young and I felt like I was missing out on certain things.
I didn’t want to leave the industry fully so I decided to start my entertainment company called BLAQ PEARL ENTERTAINMENT. Blaq Pearl Entertainment initially was a promotional company. We would promote new venues, parties, events, concerts, etc. Whatever you had going on, you could hire Blaq Pearl Entertainment to help you get the word out about it.
We were 1 of the only a few female Promoters in Atlanta at that time. Me and my business partner at that time. This was back in the early 2000’s. We became really good at what we did. We were constantly out late at night promoting for events that evenly we ended up hiring models to help us promote. Because our models would get so much attention we ended up adding management to our entertainment company.
Soon after my business partner decided to step away from the company. Which left me operating everything by myself. Literally running this company all by myself. Realizing that I had knowledge of
the industry and contacts of the industry I soon added event/ planning management and talent management under the umbrella of Blaq Pearl Entertainment.
I’ve managed models, mainly full-figured models and was one of the few plus size model management companies in Atlanta. I’ve managed a DJ, actors, and vocal singers. One of my favorite artist that I worked with was a rapper/singer by the name of Oso Crispy who was the winner on the reality show “ARE YOU THE GIRL” produced by Chilli and T-Boz from the platinum selling group TLC.
Our events management /planning side of our company we has had the honor to plan the events for several NFL players /WNBA players / Actors and Comedians. Some of our clients are the Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Foundation, former NFL superstar Stevie Baggs Jr and his non profits organization The Ceta Foundation, Pierre edwards actor/comedian from the movie “Baps”, How to be a player and more. WBNA greats Kara Braxton and Ivory Latta. DJ Benny Demus who is DJ for national recording artist Akon, Rock City and more, these are just a few of my clients to name. After becoming unexcited to promote for venues, managing artists and other talents. I decided to mainly focus on the event management side of my company. I decided to become a full pledge event management company. We have been very successful with every event that we’ve put together. We’ve planned and hosted major red carpet events, movie premieres, charity events, birthday parties, fashion shows, school proms and more. It’s been 1 of the most exciting times of my life.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not always been a smooth ride. When my Blaq Pearl Entertainment business partner decided she no longer wanted to be a partner or promoter I had to do everything on my own. It was a team of one for years and no one even knew it. I have tried to hire people into positions but it was difficult finding good people to do hard work. Most people look at the entertainment industry as fun and not hard work. Everyone wants to meet the celebrity and take pictures with the clients but would never put in the hard work to keep the celebrity as our client. The industry is about network and I have always preached in order to build your NET-WORTH, you need to build you NETWORK. Finding people who truly understood what that meant was very difficult so I hired and fired a lot. None of which made me want to give up. I continue to run Blaq Pearl Entertainment like its an army of hundreds.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Balling For Lupus Luvs Foundation & Blaq Pearl Entertainment – what should we know?
I have 2 awesome businesses. Blaq Pearl Entertainment & Balling for Lupus Luvs Foundation Inc.
Blaq Pearl entertainment is my baby. It is an Event Management Company that specializes in planning the most exclusive intimate events. We make sure our clients and their guest are feeling very special and comfortable at our events. What makes our company different from others is the attention that we give everyone who enters the room of one of our events. We not only make sure our client is satisfied but we make sure our clients guest are satisfied. What also makes us different is that we are a one stop shop. We have the resources to promote your event via our massive email blast and all of our large social media sites. We don’t out source other marketing teams to help us promote you or your event. We are equipped to do that for all of our clients.
Balling For Lupus Luvs Foundation Inc is 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps bring awareness to the chronic disease lupus. This is an all female celebrity charity basketball games. A-list celebrity women, influencers and game changers from all over the world lend their time to help bring awareness to the chronic disease lupus. Our celebrity coaches, players and entertainment consist of Actors, Reality Tv Stars, Legendary RnB singers, renowned published models, city leaders and more. I am most proud about this event because of all the awareness that it has brought to people in Atlanta and surrounding cities who had never heard of Lupus until they attended our event.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
My hard work, my ability to listen and understand, the fact that I CARE about my clients needs and those whom I fight for on a daily basis that are battling with Lupus. I know that my network is my net worth & staying true to my clients and myself keeps me successful. Knowing what’s realistic and what’s not and also staying in the know of what’s changing in the industry and the world around me.
Being told that I was very special and phenomenally different from my grandmother Carrie Wellington. And that it was ok to be ME. My favorite childhood memory is also watching my grandmother be a pillar in her community. Showing unconditional love to anyone and every one she knew or came across. I try to always live my life like her, giving, loving, protecting, teaching, inspiring, motivating, supporting and respecting.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Ballingforlupusluvs.com
- Phone: 678-820-8263
- Email: bo@ballingforlupusluvs.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ballingforlupusluvs
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ballingforlupusluvsfoundation
- Other: www.blaqpearlentertainment.com
Image Credit:
Black dress photo credit Catherine Harper catharpetphotography, Purple shirt photo credit Zachary Thomas zachthomasphotos
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