AllHipHop: Please, explain what your job entails:
Bari Williams: I’m responsible for business planning and operations, including cross-functional work with Product, Marketing, Strategy, Partnerships, Customer Service, Trust and Safety to manage and oversee technical metrics, product innovation, key strategic partnerships and drive P&L (profits and loss) results across the company.
AllHipHop: What’s the most enjoyable part of the job and your duties:
Bari Williams: Figuring out ways to solve problems. It’s fun to analyze something and see how it works, and then determine how and why it could be better, and then putting the pieces together to actually make it better. I love driving toward efficiency.
AllHipHop: What is the hardest part: Bari Williams: Figuring out ways to solve problems. It’s a blessing and a curse. It can be frustrating when you know how to solve a problem, and you don’t have the necessary resources to fix it.
AllHipHop: Can you describe a moment of adversity personally and in your career?
Bari Williams: I’m a creature of routine and comfort, and I’m very Type A. I’ve been called a control freak. So, it’s hard for me to leave a situation in which I’ve become comfortable, know how to easily navigate the terrain, am great at the work, and good will has already been acquired in the company. But I know that growth is in the space outside of your comfort zone, and that’s always the hardest step for me to take… to leave the familiar to tackle the unknown.
AllHipHop: What keeps you from giving up?
Bari Williams: I remind myself that my dad’s parents were sharecroppers with elementary school educations. They didn’t move their family from Mississippi to California and grind it out to get some of their kids to college for me to get discouraged and give up, even when I’m not getting what I deserve. Just work harder to prove I’m worth what I’m asking for.
AllHipHop: Who inspired you to become a leader or boss?
Bari Williams: My mother. She’s always been the boss of our home and was such an exceptional teacher that people still stop me on the street and ask about her. To see that kind of impact you can have on someone’s life resonated with me. I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher, at least not in that way, but I wanted to have that kind of impact and legacy.
AllHipHop: How do you balance work and personal life?
Bari Williams: Three things: (1) I wake up early in the morning, to allow time to do something I want to do undisturbed. I’m the only early riser in my house, so it’s the only time no one is looking for me; (2) I organize my life on a shared calendar with my husband, and it includes our kid’s activities, and; (3) I have insomnia, which is good and bad. I try to use it for good.
AllHipHop: What do you like to do for fun?
Bari Williams: Four things: (1) I clear my DVR; (2) read; (3) watch or attend sporting events and concerts, and; (4) sleep. Yes, sleep can be fun when you’re an insomniac.
AllHipHop: Please provide what it means to you to be a powerful and influential woman in the urban music and hip-hop industry.
Bari Williams: It’s providing good experiences for the customers, fans, and our partners/artists, and providing more opportunity for those that look like me in the tech and entertainment space.
AllHipHop: Final Thoughts or words of advice?
Bari Williams: To get something you’ve never had, you’ll have to do something you’ve never done.
(AllHipHop Rumors) These rappers have to be very careful with who they decide to have children with!
