Well, you know, because Virginia Beach primarily this kind of skate and surf culture, a lot of the
things that surrounds the people there are valued according to the brands, I guess. And so from a
very early age, I was noticing how branding and logos and images on objects created or rather
increase the proceed values of those objects and so certainly while I grew up at the beach and
skateboarding, I was never really good at any of those activities but what I really, I guess was
good at, to some extent, was kind of emulating those graphics and logos because I couldn’t
afford the cool brand so I would make my own shirts and paint on my own skateboards. And
those objects in turn, almost ironically, became valued by other people and so I started to
understand how that worked. And I wanted to assume that power. And that’s what kind of lead
me to my interest in graphic design. And so from Virginia Beach, I was in Virginia Beach from
kindergarten to 12th grade.
My father was primarily computer systems analyst and was also a stockbroker for awhile and my
mother did a variety of odd jobs and she also made a lot of things that she sold, kind of crafts,
you know, we had a garage full of jigsaws and sanding belts and tools, woodworking tools and
so I was always in an environment of making things and creating things and furthermore making
things for herself. So a lot of my toys growing up were homemade toys, cars made out of chunks
of wood with milk carton lids for wheels and things like that, yeah.