Tone Love

Born on August 30, 1976 in Rochester, New York, actor and entrepreneur Tone Williams began to show an interest in computer programming as early as age nine. Through keen business strategy and aggressive business tactics, he built a successful internet service provider, Toneee.com, offering world-class web hosting, online merchant services, web and graphic design, domain registration and more. In the process, Williams stumbled on a niche using social media to build an international brand known as "Setting The Tone", which has captured over 30,000 online followers in the US and abroad. His positive and charismatic personality opened doors to the film industry, as many of his clients were industry professionals including actors and writers. Williams sees himself as a natural entertainer, as he does not shy away from the camera and exudes confidence. Most recently, Tone has volunteered for several non-profit organizations and spearheaded several humanitarian efforts to promote domestic abuse prevention and breast cancer awareness. Early Life Tone Williams was born on August 30, 1976 in Rochester, New York. Williams began to show an interest in computer programming at the age of nine at Martin B. Anderson School #1 in Rochester, NY. He took only a few courses throughout high school and did not pursue his passion until he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia in 2000 where he founded Toneee.com, LLC. Tone Williams grew up in a poverty-stricken housing project on the west side of Rochester, New York as an only child with his mother, Francine Williams. Stricken with mental illness, his mother was forced to relinquish custody to his grandmother for a number of years, leading to a two-year custody battle in family court. His mother eventually won, only to find herself battling depression and eventually abusing Williams. Fearing death, he eventually convinced his mother to allow him attend school, a commodity he was deprived of for several months. He would not see his mother or natural family again until adulthood, and grew up in a series of foster homes and group homes. Williams' parents eventually relinquished legal rights by age 13 and he became a Ward of New York State. Living in the homes of different strangers helped build Tone's ability to adapt to new environments quickly. He attended several high schools, including West Irondequoit, East High School, John Marshall High School and Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School. Forced to remain locked in his room for hours, Tone was a voracious reader as a child, spending many hours pouring over reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries. He did well in school, but he seemed bored and withdrawn at times. Most of his counselors and teachers worried he might become a loner, although his elementary school librarian, Grace Carswell, took special interest in him. She allowed him to work in the school library where he could spend more time reading and learning on his own. Williams later became more social and popular after securing his first job as a part time cashier at Wegmans Food Markets in Midtown Plaza. Tone took a special interest in computers, always motivated to finish class work early to play and work on the Apple II/e shared between several classrooms in Martin B. Anderson School #1. Intrigued by software title "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego", he tried to create his own video games using programming languages BASIC and Logo. At Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Tone was selected with only three other students to attend an Apple, Inc. trade show in Washington, D.C. to introduce Apple's first portable computer called the Macintosh Portable. He took only a few elective computer courses during high school, demotivated by the public school system's policies and prerequisites. As a foster child, Tone learned to hone his communication skills and landed a job at Wegmans Food Markets in Henrietta, New York. He was soon transferred to the heart of Rochester, New York to Midtown Plaza, where he would meet his supervisor and best friend, Anthony Hunter. Together, along with two other friends, they formed a mobile deejay group and promoted parties throughout the city and local colleges until Tone's relocation in 1999. The group had much success well after his employment at Wegmans and served as an outlet to cultivate his entrepreneurial and computer graphic skills through advertisement creation and marketing. Williams' popularity increased as he continued to work at other stores in Midtown Plaza including NYC Clothing Company, as well as national companies such as Merry-Go-Round, Inc. and Chase Investment Services Corporation, a subsidiary of Chase Bank (also located downtown). It was his office on the 21st floor of the Chase Manhattan Tower he would realize how powerful his technical programming and business development skills could be used to help any size business. Entrepreneurship Williams' new found passion for business pushed him to focus on starting his own empire. After working for Chase Investment Services Corporation for a number of years, he decided his skill set would be best utilized in a larger city. His acumen for not only software and graphic development, but business operations put him in the position to relocate and lead a new empire. In 2000, he moved to Atlanta to start a software development and computer automation company that primarily specialized in helping small businesses and global enterprises work more efficiently through custom built solutions. He founded Toneee.com (toneee.com, tone3.net) in 2001. Williams quickly realized that the Internet remained an untapped market for most businesses, and invested heavily into mission-critical Internet technologies. He copyrighted the company slogan still used today: move @ the speed of business, promoting the need for companies to remain competitive through the use of cutting edge technology. Toneee.com is a Limited Liability Company employing and contracting nine people when fully staffed. Today the company remains privately held and partnered with other service providers to facilitate its many of its internet services. Toneee.com provides over 35 business services and web solutions with web design and development, social media marketing and graphic design being the most popular. The company boasts over 2,000 completed design and other projects and hosts clients using world-class data centers located in Europe, Asia and the United States where it operates on a 20 Gbps Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Ethernet Backbone. Current and past clients include Rochester, New York Mayor Lovely Warren, actor Emmanuel Lewis and sports legend Roland Williams. Corporate clients include Chevron Corporation, Black Entertainment Television / Viacom Inc., Verizon Business and the University of California, San Francisco. Reinvention: Setting The Tone Like many other businesses, Toneee.com was affected by the Great Recession between 2007 - 2008. By 2010, Tone laid off all but one other employee and decided it was time to revamp and reinvent the company. He decided to focus on social media marketing, since the Internet had taken a turn in that direction via MySpace, then Facebook. Williams created a new brand designed to appeal to consumers, called Setting The Tone. He mapped out a reality talk show labeled the same, which would be entertained by Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Chet Brewster of Davenstar Media Group. The reality show never gained traction, but Tone would soon realize his influence on the general public. He began focusing much of his energy on building relationships through popular social networks, especially Facebook. Setting The Tone would soon become an international brand and household name to over 30,000 subscribers and he was dubbed as the "Dictator" by active subscribers. In 2013, Williams launched Setting The Tone Radio, a live Internet-based radio show / podcast focusing on popular topics and community issues. The show featured a wide variety appearances by celebrities, comedians and political figures. To date, the radio show has been downloaded over 27,000 times. Philanthropic Efforts Williams relocated to Atlanta, Georgia over a decade ago, but he is no stranger to his hometown, Rochester, New York. As a victim of child abuse and criminal violence, he has donated time and money to nonprofit organizations focused on child abuse and domestic violence as well as other humanitarian efforts such as human trafficking and cancer prevention. ROC The Peace Since 2011, Toneee.com and Setting The Tone has sponsored ROC The Peace / Rise Up Rochester (rocthepeace.org, riseuprochester.net), a grassroots movement created to impede violence of all kinds in the city of Rochester, New York. Tone has personally donated thousands of volunteer hours and Toneee.com has used resources to help the organization conduct business. In 2014, Toneee.com and Setting The Tone sponsored "I Am ROC Happy" (www.rocthepeace.org/happy), a project designed to promote non-violence in the Rochester, New York community. Tone posed as celebrity producer and recording artist Pharrell Williams and collaborated with local residents, political figureheads and business owners to record their renditions of "Happy", a popular hit song produced by Williams. Thousands of applicants rushed to record throughout the city of Rochester and the subsequent ROC The Peace festival was a huge success as a result. Setting The Tone Sponsorship Setting The Tone has been a household name for several thousand people and Williams used this platform to promote positive community messages. In October 2014, Setting The Tone Radio aired its first two-part live radio show series called "Survivor", which focused on domestic violence and breast cancer awareness. (October is both National Domestic Violence Awareness and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.) The series featured survivors from all over the country, including Rochester, New York and a mental health counselor from Rochester as well. The second show featured an executive director from Susan G. Komen - Central New York. The series garnered over 38,000 live and podcast listeners in less than two weeks. Through A Black Lens Competition In 2014, Williams garnered the attention of celebrity actor and director Morris Chestnut through a national online contest sponsored by American Family Insurance (AmFam) named "Through a Black Lens." The contest is part of a program developed to celebrate and pay homage to African-Americans' influence and contributions to the film industry. Tone took this opportunity to outline the struggle of many African American children, using his success as proof that negative circumstances do not necessarily dictate failure. Chestnut went on to create a short film inspired by Tone Williams named "Brakedown (2014)". Williams was flown on an all-expense paid trip to the American Black Film Festival in New York City, where the film premiered. Tone is working on other film and television opportunities to help spread more positive messages as a result.