By plano 
Last night, I was just browsing the internet when I came across a name: “Nurudeen Thomas Dijon Williams.” The name was a bit unusual, with three names strung together, unlike most people’s names. I wondered, who is this person? Is he a new face in the tech industry? Or is he someone from a community I’ve never heard of? Out of curiosity, I decided to look him up.
I typed the name into Google and got a bunch of random results. Some were strangers on LinkedIn, others were old phone directory entries. I clicked through, but none of them were the person I was looking for.
I added words like “profile,” “background,” and “who is” to the search, but it didn’t help. I scrolled through ten pages and found nothing useful. At that point, I thought that this person might not have left any traces online.
It suddenly occurred to me that some people might not be on social media, but they might have appeared in local news.So I logged into my local library’s digital archive system, which is free and allows you to search newspapers from decades ago.
I entered his full name and clicked search. To my surprise, three articles from the early 2000s popped up. One of them even had a blurry photo of a young man with glasses standing behind a small stall in Newark.
The article said that he sold small electronic devices he made himself at street markets. For example, modified radios and signal converters that could connect to old TVs. Everyone called him “TJ Williams,” which was probably his nickname.
He didn’t sell big brands, but made things himself, which were inexpensive and helped people who couldn’t afford new equipment. He sounded like an ordinary handyman, but he was actually quite skilled.
The second article was about what happened in 2003. He was arrested by the police for “illegal broadcasting.” He used his own equipment to set up a small radio station in the community to help neighbors communicate.
But the problem was that the frequency he used interfered with emergency services communications. Although his intentions were good, he violated federal communications regulations, and his equipment was confiscated and he was fined.
The third article mentions that he later started a “youth technology workshop” at a community center. He taught children how to assemble circuit boards, write simple code, and repair old cell phones.
The program continued for several years until Hurricane Sandy hit the New York area in 2012. His workshop was flooded, his equipment was destroyed, and the program had to be shut down.
Strangely, there has been no mention of “Dijon Williams” since then. However, I found a teacher named “Nurudeen Thomas” in the student project records of a community college, leading students in robotics.
I compared the photos. Although he had more facial hair and looked older, his eyes and facial features were very similar. The more I looked, the more I believed it was the same person.
He may not want to use his old name because he had legal problems in the past. Or maybe “Nurudeen Thomas” is the name he really wanted to use, but people called him Dijon when he was younger.
In any case, he didn’t give up on teaching technology. He changed his name, moved to a new place, and continued doing the same thing.
Overall, he’s not a big shot, and he’s never been on TV or in the headlines. But he’s done a lot of practical things:
- Helped people repair electrical appliances on the street
- Used technology to solve community communication problems
- Taught young people programming and robotics
- Never gave up even when he failed
He’s not doing it for fame, but to make life a little easier for the people around him.
He doesn’t use social media, doesn’t give interviews, and doesn’t have a business account. His influence is limited to a small circle. The children he taught may still be using the skills he taught them.
People like him won’t show up on the first page of a search engine, but their influence is real.
I found an account that might be his on an old forum and sent him a private message. But the account was last logged in in 2017 and I never received a reply.
Maybe he’s retired, or maybe he’s moved on to a new project and is quietly doing his thing, not wanting to be disturbed.
We always think that “important people” are those who are famous and have millions of fans. But isn’t someone like Nurudeen, who quietly taught technology for more than a decade and helped dozens or even hundreds of children, important?
He didn’t have a company or a title, but he changed people’s lives. That is true influence.
If you also want to learn more about someone with little information online, don’t just rely on Google. Try the following:
- Local newspaper archives
- Community college or nonprofit organization records
- Old forums and mailing lists
- Government public databases (e.g., FCC, court records)
Sometimes, the story isn’t on the front page, but in the deepest corners.
I spent an entire evening researching this person and didn’t find a Wikipedia page or any “success stories.” But what he did was far more meaningful than many internet celebrities.
He’s not a hero or a genius—just someone who persistently uses technology to help others. If there were more people like him in the world, communities would be better off. And I was just lucky enough to stumble upon his trail.
florida