Tru Champions - Vol 2 - Will St James

We’re so excited to bring you the second instalment of our Tru Champions series. This month's champion is William St James from St James Studio and St James Racing. We can’t wait to share our catch up with Will and show you why he is such an awesome champion!

Our Tru Champions series is all about sharing the stories of some of the most influential people in our sphere! These aren’t all titans of business but are most certainly fantastic change makers in their sector or community. 

Last time we caught up with Chandy Green, an influential spokesperson, campaigner, and teacher in the disability and diversability space. If you haven’t yet read our feature on Chandy, remember to take a look after you’ve finished here.

From drinks with David Coulthard (Redbull), to playing table tennis with Mick Schumacher (Mercedes), Will is going places in the racing world and there seems to be no sign of slowing down any time soon. It’s not all fun and games though, Will is making staggering progressions in his own race career in such a short space of time through tireless dedication and hard work. 

We’ve known Will for many years now, even back to the early days of his now super successful social media, content, and marketing agency St James Studio. We met Will when he was nominated for a prestigious young people's impact award and we knew there was something special about him then, but we could not have imagined what Will would go on to do. 

Will wears two hats, his first is as Director and owner of St James Studio which serves clients both big and small from a variety of sectors across Dorset and nationally with social media, content, and marketing. Will has become recognised for his work and how he elevates brands and businesses to new heights in powerful and unique ways. 

His second, and most exciting hat, is owner and director of St James Racing. This again serves two key functions. The first is focused on Will’s race career where he races in the F1000 Championship with Tim Gray Motorsport in cars that hit speeds of over 140mph.

The second focus of St James Racing is to support drivers with their media, content, and marketing, the importance of which is often overlooked in the sport.

Will had discovered early on in his race career that there were so many talented drivers who did not understand the key role media and marketing can play in their careers. Using his extensive skills and experience in the marketing space, Will supports drivers to help curate and elevate their personal brand, build exposure and help secure opportunities and sponsorship which is the lifeblood of the industry, this is especially vital for emerging talent. Will is not only racing for success himself but is supporting and elevating other drivers all the way along the journey. 

We believe so passionately in Will’s journey ahead that the team here at Tru Talent decided to sponsor him for the 2023 race season. Our heart is to support and elevate emerging changemakers and that’s why we had to get involved.

You can become part of the St James Racing journey, and follow every step of the way on his socials at @stjamesracing and @stjames.studio.

How about becoming a more integral part of Will’s journey by becoming a sponsor for this year's race season? There are only a few sponsorship opportunities left so don’t wait to contact Will to learn more. 

For each installment of the Tru Champions series, we ask our Tru Champions to answer our big three questions. Here’s what Will had to say: 

Q. What’s something people seem to misunderstand about you?

A. If you don’t know me you’ll probably think I’m just a dreamer because I have such big dreams, many of them seemingly impossible to attain for someone like me. I also believe deeply in being kind, open and always meeting people on a human level. I know what it is to go through the mill of hard times and you never really know what someone is going through. Far too often this kindness is met with the classic ‘what do you want from me’ or ‘what do you want in return’…when did being kind become so unnerving to others?

Q. If you could have a billboard with anything on it, what would it be and why?

A. “Underestimate me at your own risk”. I’ve been underestimated at every stage of my life and my place in the racing world is no exception. However, I’m quietly confident that I will succeed in the endeavours I put my hand to. This is not egotistical blindness, but instead an understanding of the key steps to success, hard work, self-belief, and a history of proof that I am not someone to be underestimated… but I must say, it does feel good to be the underdog sometimes!

Q. If you could turn back time and talk to your 16-year-old self, what would you tell him?

A. “Listen to your gut because it’s almost always right. Never be afraid to be yourself or of diving into something that seems scary, life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.”

Following on from our big three questions we also ask the previous champion to leave one question for the next. Here is the question that our previous champion Chandy Green left for Will. 

Q. What is the greatest fear or obstacle you have overcome?

A.  I’m someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, some days more than others, and some mornings it’s a challenge to fathom getting out of bed. I have to overcome this each morning, I don’t always win but you can be damn sure that I’ll get up and try each and every day. 

As is tradition, our current Tru Champion leaves one question for the next. Here is the question Will has left for our next champion, ‘What is the greatest risk you’ve ever taken and how did it turn out?’ 

You’ll have to catch the next instalment of our Tru Champions series to see who our next champion is and hear their answer to this juicy question from Will.

Don’t forget to follow Will across socials at @stjamesracing & @stjames.studio. You’ll get an unprecedented look behind the scenes of Will’s journey to race success and the awesome work he does through his media and marketing agency.

We can’t wait to bring you our next instalment of Tru Champions with another incredibly inspiring champion. Don’t forget to follow us across socials and sign up to our newsletter for all the best new jobs around, helpful tricks and tips and updates on our popular HR forums.