Hidden Gems: Meet Warn Wilson Jr. of Vondu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Warn Wilson Jr. 

Hi Warn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello! My name is Warn Wilson Jr., and I am a local engineer, author, and artist in the Memphis, Tennessee area. I was raised in Jackson, Mississippi. There as a kid, I attended an academic and performing arts school, which really fed my childhood passions of math and art. Afterward, I attended Bailey Magnet High School and also obtained a certificate in Graphic Design (at the Career Development Center). From there, I went on to attend Mississippi State University, where I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. 

After graduation, I began my career as an engineer in Montgomery, Alabama. After a year there, I moved back to my hometown and obtained a Research and Development Engineer intern position in Brandon, Mississippi. Upon finishing my internship in Brandon, I was hired here in Memphis, Tennessee as a Quality Engineer at a power transformer plant. And I now currently work as a manufacturing engineer for biomedical device company. 

Now four years into my engineering career, I have revamped my childhood passion for art into painting, creating visual art, and new products. I have written and illustrated a children’s book called Brown Money that introduces kids to STEM, engineering, investing, stocks, real estate, job security, and entrepreneurship. I painted every image in Brown Money on canvas using acrylic. It took me weeks to complete, but I wanted to ensure that I captured the correct image to reflect the lessons taught in the book. 

So far, I have performed book readings with schools in Memphis, Nashville, and Atlanta. I am now also wrapping up the completion of Brown Money 2, which will continue with lessons on STEM-related topics and financial literacy as well. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would have to say no it has not. It has been a great challenge to learn how actually run a business. It goes far beyond just making a product then selling it. On this journey, I have greatly learned the importance of marketing, advertisement, prospecting, business systems, and many other aspects of business that I was first unaware of. I have done my best to offset my learning curve by continuously learning from mentors and by reading books weekly. I have learned that overall, the best teaching tool has been reading and then attempting to apply the new knowledge as soon as possible. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Along with my books, I am also an entrepreneur with an array of products. I started my own tech company in January called vondu. Our initial product line includes the following: emergency chargers, solar power banks, GPS Bluetooth trackers, electronic candle lighters, and wireless chargers. 

It has always been a dream of mine to have my own electronics on the market. Along with devices, vondu is moving toward providing services as well. We will provide entrepreneurs and small business with product sourcing help, business prospecting help, book publishing, product design, product design, product manufacturing, mobile app development, and much more. 

So far, vondu has released two apps to date, ‘Na Bruh’ and the ‘Warn Wilson’ app. Na Bruh is the perfect trivia game app for any party or family gathering! It consists of 12 categories and over 5,000 fun questions! The Warn Wilson app aims to provide help in STEM, Tech, Art, & Financial Literacy, and much more! Both apps can be download on the App Store and Google Play store. 

In the fall, vondu is set to release the apps ‘Crypto Square’, ‘Duffle’, and the ‘Brown Money’ app. Download the Warn Wilson app to receive updates upon official release dates. 

I believe that only providing tangible products would be a disservice to my customers and clients. I want to use vondu to help others achieve their goals and aspirations as well. Stay tuned! 

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
My view on risk-taking is that although it can be frightening it is very necessary. I believe that every piece of success or reward comes with some sort of risk. But the overall lesson is to learn to become comfortable with betting on yourself and abilities at all times. As you learn more about your strengths and weaknesses, you will begin to see that they correspond almost directly with risk. The task or obstacles that we don’t see as “risky” are usually those that require a skill or strength that we have gotten very comfortable with doing. And when that is the case, we seem to be almost blind to the risk but in actuality, it is still there. And I use this same perspective with taking risks in general. Some tasks can seem very risk usually due to the lack of skill or strength in that area. And when this is the case for me, I do my best to learn as much as possible until the fear of risk begins to fade away. The action of learning or trying to get better at a task usually eventually puts me more peaceful state and moves me closer to actually executing the goal. So, in essence, I believe that as you decrease your ignorance to a topic you will also decrease some of the risks. Because the true risk is one moving too fast without the proper knowledge needed to excel. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.warnwilson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/warnwilson/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfnJ24AW_CvTzKl-0icD3w