1. after beginning my life as a young adult in the small midwestern town i grew up in, working menial jobs at the local paper, mcdonald's and
walmart, i started out my proper career path at myspace.com in los angeles during the site’s rapid expansion period between '05 and '06. i
was fortunate to essentially be amongst the founding fathers of modern day social media. my time at myspace saw the site grow to the #1
position on the internet and saw the company grow from the 50 or so folks i started there with to the over 500 when i left.
my position with the company started out in content curation and administration but, due to my rapid learning abilities and broad skill set,
saw me quickly progress into a position of more leadership as one of the founding members of a team of admins that essentially served as
liaisons between the site's legal department and its user base. through the duration of that year, this team would grow exponentially with the
site, thanks in part to protocol i introduced that was swiftly adopted by the entire user care department and vastly improved productivity for
the entire company. things went swimmingly, then i met rupert murdoch. newscorp bought myspace and subsequently shelved every new
feature that was going to be implemented so the site could better compete with its up-and-coming rival, facebook. i saw the writing on the
wall and left while i was ahead, deciding to venture more into the nightclub industry, a passion area of mine, as well as continuing my
pursuit of graphic design.
in 2006 i went on to work as promotions manager, graphic designer, environment designer, and sound technician at jewel’s catch one
nightclub in los angeles for a few years, and then on to managing another nightclub called mercury in seattle where i got my start as a DJ.
while my DJing continued on into the following years, i decided to quit my management position at the club after another year in order to
attend two years of college at the art institute of hollywood in los angeles and the art institute of seattle; an endeavor to learn more about
the one creative area where i didn’t want to continue solely teaching myself everything - web design. this also served as an excellent
networking opportunity between myself and the creative industry in both cities.
after taking what networking, skills, and information i’d gained from 2 years at the art institutes, i ventured back into the freelance
multimedia design arena and held several DJ residencies, as well as numerous guest spots opening for internationally renowned DJs in
seattle, also taking numerous graphic design and branding clients both in seattle and in other cities.
the working relationship i had with one nightclub in particular - club contour - developed into another full-time club management position for
me. this position would involve a full rebrand and revamp of the venue from promotional materials in print and on the web, to the venue’s
interior environment design and signage, as well as restructuring many of the club’s nightly events and personnel, vastly improving
business on all fronts. i also held and maintained a highly successful weekend afterhours DJ residency, and involved myself more in-depth
in audio technician and lighting design work than i had in los angeles, contributing significantly to contour’s award-winning sound system,
acoustics, and atmosphere.
in late 2012 i again felt the need to further spread my wings creatively. having a son now and a new set of priorities led to a decision to
leave my management position at the club on good standing and move our family to san francisco - the city i had always felt led to live in
since i was at least 12 years old but, for whatever reason, hadn’t moved to yet.
the move proved to be a good decision as it only took me a week and a half after
moving to the city to find new design clientele, and san francisco has treated my
family very well and allowed me to work more sparingly while being the full-time
father of my son. that said, now that he’s of preschool age, i feel in my heart that
it’s time to open whatever chapter is next for me and pursue more of a full-time,
long-term career path in either a new industry or one i am familiar with - there are
so many cutting-edge, progressive companies in the bay area that i know i would
be a perfect fit for.
so, if any of this has spoken to you, let’s talk about what’s next. (: