Meet Terry Benton-Walker | Author & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Terry Benton-Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Terry, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Work life balance has recently become incredibly important to me. I just experienced a period in my life where everything got turned upside down, and I had to figure out how to pivot and quickly. As a result, it became apparent how many balls I was juggling once I ended up dropping nearly all of them. And after some reflection, I realized that I shouldn’t have had that many in the air at the same time in the first place.

So moving forward, I’ve promised myself that I am going to be very deliberate with how busy I make myself AND what I make myself busy with. As I grow older, I’m becoming more conscious of how I’m spending my time, which grows more precious the more of it that goes by. I enjoy my work, especially the autonomy that comes from being an entrepreneur, which allows me to directly impact change in my communities and the people with whom I work. But I also enjoy life outside of work, like taking care of my own body and mind and spending time with my son.

I’ve learned that by being more strategic and efficient with scoping my work obligations, I can still serve my core goals for myself and my business while also having time to live outside of work.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a bestselling and award-winning author of fantasy and horror for children and adults. I’m also an Industrial Engineer, and I have an MBA. Before becoming a writer, I worked in manufacturing and business operations for over seventeen years. I am now primarily focused on building my career as an author and entrepreneur in the creative media space. Every story that I create features Black queer protagonists, something our community has not been able to experience nearly enough on a large platform. Not only that, all my projects are crafted primarily for the Black and Black queer communities with only us in mind. Every book, every story, every concept that I develop has a very specific and significant purpose for existing, which supports my primary goal in life of leaving my communities and the world better than I found them.

I’m really proud of every part of my journey, because I can see how all those experiences serve not only who I am now but also where I would like to go as a creative and an entrepreneur. I often employ my engineering and business skills in every aspect of my creative career from business strategy all the way down to the logic of how I craft a novel. It’s my ultimate goal to use these skills to build an ecosystem where I can provide jobs and mentorship and knowledge sharing for my community.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We’d start our adventure at my favorite coffee shop, Omni Coffee and Eggs, which is Black-owned and one of my favorite hangout/ working spots. They have this dope, nerdy medieval theme going on that I adore. We’d grab a sweet potato latte and a breakfast sandwich, then head to the Silver Comet Trail for a morning bike ride.

Then we’d head over to SweatHouz for a quick infrared sauna session, cold plunge, and vitamin C shower. Afterwards, we’d grab lunch and cocktails at one of the many food halls. We’ll put a few names in a hat and let you pick one at random. Lastly, we’d take a drive out to Decatur to visit two of my favorite indie bookstores: Little Shop of Stories and Brave and Kind (B&K is owned by a Black woman, who I also adore). We’d browse the aisles for a bit and exchange book recs, then go for a walk around downtown Decatur, perhaps grab some Jeni’s ice cream for a snack.

After all that, I’m going to need a nap and to disengage from human interaction for a bit haha. But I’ll send you off with more recs for other places to hang. What I love most about Atlanta is how there is such an abundance of Black businesses and Black people, so it’s not too hard to find a vibe within your community. That’s honestly a large part of what’s kept me here for the 23 years I’ve lived in Atlanta.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my mom. I owe a lot of who I am today to the love and nurturing she gave me as a kid. She taught me to be intellectually curious and fed my love of books and stories like a pet tapeworm haha. That stayed with me, and without that influence, I might not’ve become an author. And now that I have a son of my own, it’s quite easy for me to remember the importance of feeding his curiosity.

Website: https://tjbentonwalker.com

Instagram: @icecreamvicelord

Twitter: @tjbentonwalker

Other: BlueSky Social: tjbentonwalker@tjbentonwalker.com

Image Credits
Author Photo Credit (the official side-profile full body photo): Photography by Derek Blanks with crowdMGMT