From Times Square Billboards to the World Series to Cal Poly: Meet Business Fraternity President Brandon Williams

When he was a preteen, Brandon Williams debuted in the business world as a model on a billboard in Times Square.

Williams worked for Wilhelmina Models and was featured in advertisements for Crayola, NBA Kids and Aeropostale.

“I always say my fun fact that I get to use in the corporate workplace is that I was on a billboard in Times Square,” Williams said. “I think I realized it probably wasn’t something I would be doing long term, but for a period of time, for being a kid, it was awesome money for me. I could buy a new Lego set.”

Williams has held many jobs since his modeling gig in New York City that have taught him valuable lessons about the workplace. He has also found himself in leadership roles that have helped him learn more about people.

His latest role is serving as president of the Delta Sigma Pi Cal Poly chapter, a coed business fraternity centered around professionalism, community service and brotherhood.

Williams described the members of the fraternity as his best friends and said they have shaped his entire college career – and could also one day be his business partners.

His role includes making sure the fraternity has social events planned, including trips to Big Sur, open water swim training, brisket barbecues and game nights.

“He’s taking the initiative to be innovative and add on new things that haven’t been done before,” said Josh Lavin, vice president of Brotherhood for the chapter. “I think compared to past years, he’s really trying to make this year a year that we can improve stuff and add more fun things to the fraternity.”

While the fraternity plans fun activities for its members, it also helps raise money for a local non-profit.  Delta Sigma Pi works with the Dream Makers San Luis Obispo through their philanthropy to help terminally ill adults with their end-of-life care.

As a child, Brandon Williams appeared in multiple ads on Times Square, including this one for Aeropostale. (Photo courtesy of Brandon Wiliams)

Ronda Beaman, a professor in the Orfalea College of Business, serves as the executive director of Dream Makers San Luis Obispo.

Dreammakers also organizes trips for adults and other services to help them do anything they want, from surfing on Avila Beach to going to an NFL game, according to their website.

“I’ve been learning so much, and I just have this amazing exec team working with me,” Williams said.

Williams also serves as a peer mentor for the Orfalea College of Business, which he said has been extremely rewarding and played a major role in his college experience.

When asked why he wanted to go into business, Williams recounted that he had the drive to pursue this career from a young age.

“I think what made me choose business was the motivation to build something,” he said. “And I really feel like you can get that out of business, and I thought I could excel in it.”

Growing up around the banking world – his mother was a Wall Street trader – he originally thought he wanted to go into investment banking but decided he wanted more of a work-life balance. That balance is important because outside of business, Williams has many hobbies: He plays the guitar in a duo, cooks, snowboards, and skis. His biggest passion at the moment, however, is surfing.

It was in Rhode Island that Williams discovered his love for surfing.

Williams surfs in Morro Bay and Cayucos Beach four to five times a week and said that surfing is something that centers him.

“I think there is a certain beauty in being able to disconnect from everything and being able to be out there and find a home with the ocean and the waves and the peacefulness of that,” Williams said.

Brandon Wiliams has taught surfing in Spanish while in Costa Rica. After graduation, he will work for Apple in San Francisco as a financial analyst. (Photo/Jahan Ramezani)

Williams has had many experiences throughout his life centered around discovering different perspectives. This is due to his childhood spent living all over the United States.

Born on the West Coast in Santa Monica, Williams has lived in many different places throughout his life, due to his parents often relocating. After his parents divorced when he was three, Williams split time between his dad on the West Coast and his mom on the East Coast, though he said he based primarily with his mother.

In New York City, Williams developed a passion for watching and playing baseball, which provided a way for him and his mother to bond, and today while living on the West Coast, a way for him to stay in touch with her.

“My mom and I would sit in the living room, and my mom was one of the last adopters of the flat screen TV,” Williams said. “She absolutely refused to buy one. We had that old box TV for the longest time. But we absolutely loved it.”

Williams attended the 2009 World Series and the 2024 World Series to see his favorite team, the Yankees, play.

When his dad on the West Coast moved to Branson, Missouri, he spent the summers there and picked up a job at a small marina as a dock hand. Working 60-80 hours a week, he was promoted  to assistant manager, and it taught him a lot about customer service and hard work.

“My dad is pretty much retired now, but also shares a love of the ocean, being in the water, and playing music,” Williams said.

In high school, Williams attended boarding school in Rhode Island at St. George’s School and saw it as a place to be academically challenged and gain a sense of independence.

“It is this amazing place where you develop these incredibly close relationships. It is like a sleepover with all your friends,” Williams said.

St. George’s School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school that offers students a college preparatory program, according to the school’s  website. Notable alumni  include actor Julie Bowen,  conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson and retired politician Howard Dean.

“There were great academics, and sports were able to fit into daily life more easily,” Williams said. “Opposed to the city, where you had to take a train or two and a bus to get to practice, and even longer to get a game.”

While not as well known on the East Coast, according to Williams, he said that he came across Cal Poly through his college advisor, who said ‘I think you might really like it. I know you.’”

Williams chose Cal Poly over schools in Boston because he wanted to set up his life here post graduation.

At Cal Poly, Williams loves being at Cal Poly because he can go hiking, camping, surfing and drive up to Big Sur.

“It’s really just a special place,” Williams said. “The weather is a lot better.”

Over the summers during college, Williams has traveled to Baja Mexico, Costa Rica and Bali to go surfing. In Costa Rica, Williams was a surfing instructor, who occasionally taught surfing in Spanish. He described this as an unique opportunity because this was pushing his comfort zone and helping him work on his Spanish.

Post graduation, Williams will be working a full time role as a financial analyst at Apple in San Francisco, an opportunity that surfaced during an internship last summer

“I’m really always up for an adventure”