Throughout my entire life, art and creativity have played an important and formative role for me. My earliest education came at an art magnet school during my elementary years. It was there that I started exploring every creative outlet I could. I took art classes. Some of my art made it into competitions at fairs. During my third grade year, I took band class and started playing the trumpet. I would bring it home during the weekends and surely annoy the neighborhood. I acted in plays as well as any tiny child with no training could act. I took to reading quickly, absorbing any book I could find. Soon, I started writing my own short stories. I was a sponge.

​

What started in sketchbooks soon transferred into notebooks, as I started making rap music throughout my late teens and 20s. I loved the outlet, and I still look fondly at those years as they introduced me to lifelong friends as well as life lessons. But early on, I was missing direction. I decided to forego college, opting to “figure it out.” At the age of 20, I was given a small opportunity to work nights in a small print house's billing department. I took that job and turned it into a print and design career that I have navigated for 15 years and counting. I was that same sponge. I learned pre-press and design techniques, and soon after that, I was making flyers for shows my friends promoted.