I went to school for Information Technology, and I was among the first to graduate from FSU’s College of Information with that degree. Previously, it was the School of Information, focusing on Library and Information Science. I had good timing.
My first love was medicine—my mom was a nurse, and I still fantasize about completing a medical anthropology doctorate—but my father wisely nudged me in a more practical direction, aligning with my aptitude for technology. In truth, I had no idea what the pursuit of medicine required at the time, and tech was undoubtedly the right specialization for me.
I’ve always been fascinated by web publishing, and I recall looking up williejackson.com in school to see how much it would cost to register the domain. It was an eye-popping $500 for some reason, but I checked back regularly and managed to snag it for a much more reasonable $50 months later.
I still remember my first website and my obsession with the HTML and CSS that brought it to life. I turned that obsession into a freelance web design business after friends coveted my shiny new web presence. I never made retirement money, but I learned about sales, marketing, pricing, and eventually web hosting, which ultimately led to a Director of Web Optimization role. Invaluable.
Anyway, I recently overhauled my website after putting it off for years, and I’m really happy with how it’s coming together. It’s not “finished”—websites are never finished—but it’s live, and I’m happily neck-deep in details that most people will never notice or care about.
And that’s fine by me, it’s just great to be back at it.
Willie Jackson helps teams and organizations find harmony. He brings compassion and levity to the challenging work of