Meet Crystal Willis of Omni Firm LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Willis.

Hi Crystal, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but moved a lot as a child. I’ve spent most of my life in California but went to high school in Oregon. My parents are an interracial couple and have been lovingly married for over 38 years. As a child, I grew up in a pretty strict home, so I struggled a lot with self-esteem, how to process emotions and to escape I would read or fantasize about becoming a singer. My freshman year in high school, I was sexually assaulted as a virgin on campus and became pregnant. I chose open adoption because I valued her life, and I wanted my daughter to have a two-parent home. I also wanted to pursue a career in music, and having a baby to care for would make the journey a lot tougher.

Once I graduated high school in 2001, I moved to Boston, MA to attend Berklee College of Music and pursue my dream. I studied music business management and voice. In 2003, I left Boston for warmer weather and lower tuition in Los Angeles, CA. I got my first desk job working as a temp at ESPN in 2005, and from there worked as an Executive Assistant, Marketing Coordinator, and Publicity Coordinator for several top entertainment companies like CBS Mobile, CodeBlack Entertainment, Universal Music Mobile, Warner Bros. Records and Disney’s Hollywood Records. I’ve been blessed to make a lot of influential friends across music, film and television. I’ve worked on multi-platinum, award-winning campaigns, and that’s something I’ve very proud of despite a lot of the industry non-sense and politics insiders deal with daily.

As a result of my childhood, mental health challenges plagued me. While I no longer subscribe to clinical labels, I suffered for nearly two decades from repressed grief and trauma, resulting in chronic depression, PTSD, and BPD. As a very high-functioning and ambitious person, I threw myself into work and marriage and eventually came to a screeching halt in burnout. I decided in 2016 to leave my marriage and my position in corporate life to focus on my healing, create a life of freedom/fulfillment and discover my purpose. I decided to let go of all my material possessions and start over, building a location-independent lifestyle, eventually deciding to work for myself.

This decision led me on my journey as an entrepreneur, and five years and many ups and downs later, I now run my own marketing and communications consulting company, Omni Firm LA. As a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I have various other pursuits in media, personal development coaching, branding, journalism and cannabis.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Obviously, my journey has been rocky. When I left my corporate job, I really didn’t have much saved as a parachute. I’m blessed to have had a soft place to land with generous family and friends who just wanted me to discover my happiness. They believed in my success, and along with my faith, that gave me the strength to press on. I have faced housing insecurity, food insecurity, slept on the train and in my car, and was on government assistance for a short time. Even more challenging than those things was overcoming self-doubt and trauma-related mental health patterns that were self-sabotaging. I was proactive in seeking therapy, getting myself into personal development training, and using tools like affirmations and journaling to re-program my mindset. There was definitely a long period of my life where I felt I was “damaged goods.” I learned by going after my dreams, being gentle with myself, asking for support, and keeping my word to myself a bit more each day, that I could build my self-confidence.

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?
The Omni Firm LA is a woman-owned, black-owned, full-service boutique marketing, management and communications consulting agency. We primarily serve creatives and visionaries who are seeking to build brand authority, create better systems to scale their business or promote the release of a product or service through a strategic campaign. As a result of my experience in entertainment, many of our clients are musicians who come to us for strategic public relations. However, we also offer services such as website development, product development, team building, executive coaching, social media management, influencer partnership strategies, copywriting, logo and brand development. I’ve also set up and managed red carpet media and talent relations for major award shows, film festivals, premieres and brand activations.

What sets us apart is the focus we place on creating a legacy of impact through a concept I call story alchemy. The commonality our clients share is that they are all people with a heart to make an impact in the world. We support that by helping them bring their gifts to the world either through creating better strategies and systems or by using the power of story to re-frame their mindset or brand positioning.

Simply put, I believe that STORY ALCHEMY has the power to not only help us re-invent our lives for greater levels of joy and abundance but also is the driving force for creating bold impact and expanding our brand authority.

I also offer digital courses, live trainings, mastermind retreats and recently started a group for diverse women who are working to reinvent their lives called, The Crysalis. We’re a tribe of goal-getters focused on breaking through limiting beliefs, self-care, manifestation and holding each other high.

I’m really proud of the way that I’ve been able to not only get my clients featured in media outlets like Forbes, GQ, USA Today, BET and Essence, but also how choosing to be vulnerable in sharing my own story has proven the power of Story Alchemy. Through being willing to open up about being bullied, raped, giving my baby up for adoption, my struggles with entrepreneurship, I’ve been featured in Marie Claire Magazine, Salon, Sheen Magazine, PBS and many others.

Mostly, what I want people to know when they think of me, my brand, my legacy, is just how valuable and worthy they are to take up space, how powerful they are to create and shape their reality, and how being authentic with yourself and others can cause a limitless legacy to unfold before you.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Absolutely! I wish I’d given myself a bit more credit for the hard work I had done. I spent so much of my mental space comparing myself, doubting myself, or beating myself up for what I hadn’t yet achieved. With my coaching and mentorship clients, we work a lot on imposter syndrome. This is the nature of imposter syndrome; we always feel like a fraud no matter what we accomplish. We hear ourselves saying things like “You’re never doing enough,” “look at how far along that person is, you must not be doing it right.” We work a lot on self-care, being kind to ourselves, and exploring possibilities despite the negative beliefs, our minds tell us. With my clients, we work on busting through limiting beliefs by unpacking the TRUTH behind the stories we tell ourselves.

My advice would be to take baby steps, celebrate your small wins, but most of all: understand that anything is possible if you firmly decide it’s what you want, and you commit to it with faith.

Also, I would be much more proactive about the company I kept. This applies to building your network in the entertainment industry as well. The saying that “you are the sum average of the five people you hang with most” is pretty accurate. Don’t take networking lightly. Make sure you are intentional and authentic about it. Be less concerned with what others can do for you and more interested in how you can show up to learn from them and support them. Some of the individuals I supported, even on my darkest days, still remember me for my humility and willingness to show up. If I’d understood back then that I could intentionally build relationships with wiser, wealthier and more powerful people than me without being intimidated, I’d probably be further along. Most of all, consistently check on the energy input and output of the relationships closest to you and make sure they are bringing you closer to your dreams, not taking you further away from them.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: http://www.crystalwillis.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/mscrystalwillis
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/mscrystalwillis
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MsCrystalwillis
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1FHa6dsV5BiVW-p6j_Artw
• Other: http://www.theomnifirmla.com

Image Credits:
Photo credits: Bryana Nicole, Jarrod Maurice Williams, 3K9 Studios