Dr. Rondrick Williamson is an Atlanta GA area resident originally born in Mullins, SC. He and his two brothers were raised by a single mom in the public housing. Despite his humble beginnings, he overcame life’s obstacles to become a successful physician. He has appeared on multiple seasons of the television show The Doctors. In 2013 he was named one of the ‘Most Beautiful Doctors in America.’
Dr. Ron completing his undergraduate studies at Clemson University earning a BS degree in Biological Science. He has attended the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine ultimately receiving a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree. PrideIndex had the honor of interviewing this man of distinction. Here’s what he shared.
PrideIndex (PI): Hi Dr. Ron, how are you today?
Dr. Ron (DR): I’m good, how are you?
PI: I am head over heels. I have to sit down and calm myself down. You have actually agreed to do this interview without any hesitation.
DR: I appreciate the invitation.
PI: I used to follow you via email, sorry that was Facebook. I’m not sure if it was for a show, or you were just giving health tips every day. And then you stopped. What happened? Why did you stop?
DR: Yeah, actually, it was for a concept that I’m pitching, called, “Trust Me I’m Dr. Ron.”
I revved it up a little bit during the {Covid-19} pandemic, because I had a lot of free time. The concept of the show was to deliver great health and wellness information in a way that it could be palatable and digestible by the common person, or the lay person. The purpose of the show was to do some health and wellness, healthy quick meals ideas, trivia, and some other stuff. But then the pandemic started to subside, and things went back to normal. My schedule did not allow me to do as much of the show as I wanted to. It is not gone away permanently. More is coming soon. I moved to the Instagram platform. I’m doing a live show on Monday and Thursday nights at 7:30pm. It’s a live version of “Trust Me, I’m Dr. Ron.” I pretty much do the same thing that I was doing on the recorded sessions.
PI: Do you have an archive somewhere? If so, were can I find it?
DR: If you were to go to my Instagram page and then go to IGTV all of my archived episodes from as back as last year are still on there. Some of the live episodes can be found on there, too. I do a combination of IGTV and YouTube. Go to my Instagram page {https://www.instagram.com/thedrron/channel} all those videos are there.
PI: Okay, perfect. Now, just taking a step back. I first became familiar with your work after seeing you on the TV show The Doctors. Again, you were there and then you disappeared. What happened?
DR: I was with The Doctors for two seasons making guest appearances. The show had a shake-up. And they rotated the show’s producers. The producers that used to call on me for foot care issues were no longer there. It was not just myself, but some of the regulars are not there anymore. I still keep in contact with some of folks from the show to this day. In the end it’s up to producers to decide which set of guests they’d like to bring on. I used to fly out there and film about two segments, then it’ll be a quick turnaround. I’d return to the airport and come back home. It was a great opportunity. I was kind of hoping that they would reach back out someday. That experience is how ‘Trust me. I’m Dr. Ron’ was born. I wanted to have an avenue to give good information.
PI: You’ve just answered my next question, how did “Trust Me…” come about? Do you have an ultimate goal of having it to become a TV show?
DR: Yes, that is the ultimate goal. Like everything else it requires having a good following, good numbers on social media, or whatever platform you choose to use. It’s about getting the content out there and let people know what you’re doing. The TV show would have everything I’ve already covered, like the eating well segment where I prepare healthy meals, along with trivia and interesting, yet strange, health and wellness facts that people may not know about. Those pieces will be combined into an hour show with a guest appearance. The Aspire network reached out to me a little while ago, in regards to doing some content for them. It never went anywhere. They actually found my content on social media. I’m assuming that if I continue to do what I’m doing, keep trucking along others who will see it and reach out as well.
PI: You’re a fitness coach, as well, as a podiatrist. How does the two mix?
DR: Fitness encompasses a lot of different things, even podiatry and foot care. Like I tell my patients, I like to treat the whole patient. So when they come to me for care we look at blood pressure. When we calculate their BMI, if they’re overweight or obese, I’ll give them information about that. I steer them to make better dietary choices. I’ve always been one to push health and wellness. It could be mental health, physical health and working out/exercising, or relationship health, because I think it is all important part. It is important to have healthy relationships too. It’s all encompassing. I have some segments where I’ve talked about foot stuff, and people tend to want to hear about foot care. Ii is not the only topic I’ll discuss. I started to work out several years ago, which I never thought that I would be someone who was into fitness. It felt good. The transformation looked good. So I wanted to share all the information with as many people as I could. That’s where we are now.
PI: I’m overweight, not obese. I need to push away from the table and exercise more. What are the one or two things I can almost immediately do to get myself into better shape?
DR: It’s all about diet or dietary choices. You can limit the portion size or more importantly is to limit the bad stuff that you put in your body. I always tell people soft drinks are horrible. Fries, lots of carbs from, sugars, cakes, pies and stuff like that are really not good. And also it’s important to get good rest at night too because if you’re not resting well at night, then you can have an overabundance of belly fat. Again here are some things that you can do right away. Start to make better dietary choices, integrating some cardio, or get some general exercise into your daily routine a little more than what you normally would do. Try taking the stairs when you go to work. Try a little bit of everything. It’s not just one specific thing that I typically recommend. It is about the little diet changes. And making sure you’re alleviating some of those stressors in our daily lives because stress can cause you to have increased weight as well.
PI: I took a look at your Facebook page and reviewed some of the old posts. I came across your t-shirts called “Black and No Apologies.” I followed the links to a website that had some other stuff. How come you’re not promoting those t-shirt and some of the other items you have?
DR: We promote the foot care products almost weekly. There are other ads running weekly on different platforms. Our footwear products are the biggest sellers. “Black and No Apologies” was birthed out of the Black Lives Matter movement from last year. And so during that time, the t-shirt was a hot seller. It was never intended to be a long term thing. We got in a certain limited amount of inventory. I have a box in my home right now. The have more inventory because people have been reaching out for it. Although we are not promoting there are so many repeat buyers. I’m about to do another campaigns to revitalize the “Black and No Apologies” t-shirt. I have not done a photo shoot yet. In regards to the foot care products, they are literally flying off the shelves. It’s good stuff, great products.
PI: As a whole we men tend to neglect our feet. For some strange reason we don’t care for them like we should. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see guys nicely dressed but once you glance downward you will see sandals with sweat socks. It makes me want to kill those fellas! What is the problem with some guys and the lack of care for their feet?
DR: What I’ve seen in my years of practicing medicine is that we {men} tend to neglect our feet. I will say that as of the last two years or so I’ve been seeing more male patients come in to address foot concerns. Even if they didn’t have a specific problem, they’re coming in just to say ‘I want to make sure I don’t have any issues with my feet.’ It’s not just men, the ladies too. We all tend to neglect our feet until there is an issue. We start being ‘concerned’ when we can’t get around like we used. Regular foot care is a necessity. I am happy to say that guys are not shying away from manicures and pedicures. Things are changing.
I think what’s happened is, as we, myself and others, began to teach how important it is to take care of feet. People now get it. I sometimes post some stuff that’s real gross and folks don’t want their feet to look like that. So then they start to think.
PI: On your Facebook page, I noticed that you have this flyer for Spirit Week. What was that all about? And what was the turnout like?
DR: It was our first annual Spirit Week. It was birthed out of the idea that we wanted to not just be in the community doing what we do, we want to make an impact.
The big deal was to have a non-perishable food drive, which we partner with the Atlanta Children’s Shelter, to collect food items for the kids at the shelter. This month is Hunger Shortage Awareness Month, we collected food as a part of our Spirit Week. We celebrated different things each day. Last week, Monday, we had sports day. We dressed in our favorite team sport’s attire. To get our patients involved we decorated the office every day. On Tuesday we had a Pride celebration. Because this month is Pride Month. Wednesday was our Home Facilities Awareness Day. Orange is the color that represents hunger shortage. So we dressed in orange. And Thursday was our Juneteenth celebration. And then yesterday {Saturday} we didn’t do anything in the office staff. We just all went out to dinner last evening. Spirit Week is something that we want to do every year. We might partner with Atlanta Children’s Shelter next year, or we may choose another charity. That’s all in the air. I’m really excited about the turnout of Sprit Week. It was a great success from the involvement of all of those that came out, and even people on social media who were supportive. Some weren’t even patients of mine. They still brought in non-perishable items or donated funds to give to Atlanta Children’s Shelter.
PI: Can you talk to talk about your foundation and its ultimate goal and mission?
DR: The foundation is not active anymore. The foundation was an organization that gave out book scholarships to deserving high school students who have been accepted to a four year university. We had criteria for ACT scores, GPA, etc. I did the foundation for about seven years. I’ve always liked to give back to the community, in any way that I could. Even if it’s by allowing students to come into the office and observe us or to permit my staff to try to find time to mentor or what have you. If it wasn’t for that {community giving}, then I wouldn’t be where I am. Someone had to reach down and help me out. My mom was a single parent, she couldn’t do everything. She had three boys. We were living in public housing projects, it was difficult. All of that plays into what I do now. My purpose is to try to give back as often as I can.
PI: I couldn’t get away from asking this next question. Are you single/available or dating?
DR: I’m 100% single. I am very long term, relationship oriented.
PI: Okay. I’m going to write that and you’re going to see a flurry of folks breaking their feet or with foot issues just so that they can come to your office.
DR: (Laughs) I’m 100% single but you can’t come in here with a long list of issues. You cannot think that because I’m a doctor and you want to date me it’s as simple as that. I cannot solve all of your problems for you. It’s about taking a holistic but realistic approach.
PI: You mentioned that you’re busy with many things. You have your patients and you’re trying to get that show off the ground. What do you do just to relax and unwind?
DR: I have several things that help me relax. One thing that helps is going to the gym and working out. Having some good music on while I’m working out puts me in a great space.
Another thing is travel. I haven’t been able to do a lot of traveling because of the pandemic. But I’m starting to do that now that I’m fully vaccinated. Traveling allows you to get out of your immediate environment, and just experience something different. You always come back refreshed with a renewed respect on life.
Something else that’s so simple, that packs a great punch, is I’ll come home and light candles and lavender. I talked about it on one of my shows. Lavender is a great relaxing agent. I have a glass of wine and listen to some music. That’s extremely relaxing for me.
Every now and then I’ll do meditation, or yoga, which works well too. When I find myself getting overwhelmed I have to make myself stop and say ‘you need to employ some of those relaxation techniques.’ And they work.
PI: Are you a member of the LGBTQ community? Is that something that you would be okay if I were put it out there? Or should I not mention it?
DR: I am totally okay with it. YES, I am LGBTQ. And it’s okay to put it out there. I think where I am in my life right now, it’s important for people to see LGBTQ people like me and know that it’s okay. It’s okay to live in your own truth. I believe that, for me, it has been a situation where it’s been a sigh of relief to make it clear I am LGBTQ. It’s been a lot of pressure off my shoulders because I’m able to accept who I am. I’m hoping that by being honest and transparent about who I am that it will help somebody else who may be going through the struggle. Some people go through struggles to accept themselves. I don’t shy away from accepting myself. I’m always very honest.
PI: What’s next for you on your horizon?
DR: What I’m trying to do now is do more on social media and becoming a brand ambassador. I only attach my name to things that I think are helpful to people. And as far as my practice goes, I hope to eventually open another location at some point. The ultimate goal is to meet my soulmate.
