through several formative years of working with branding and pr firms, i developed a knack for establishing a strong brand voice and executing it consistently through all forms of communication to create a cohesive brand experience. i focus on compelling storytelling that engages an audience—keeping them clicking that “read more” button in their minds.

words are fascinating. fundamental to nearly everything we do, words are the building blocks of basic communication, a form of art, and an outlet of personal expression. i find a unifying comfort in the idea that most of us will never compose a symphony, perform life-saving surgery, or paint a masterpiece, but all of us will spend our entire lives expressing ourselves through spoken/written/signed words.

and that’s the best thing about words: it’s all in how we use them.

from tommy mccracken to thomas e. 

i grew up roaming the boundless forests of northern wisconsin with my two brothers and two sisters. we had everything—snowmobiles, dirt bikes, go carts, a basketball court in the summer and a hockey rink in the winter. and the greatest parents in the history of parents. 

words have always been my thing.

i cut my teeth on abridged versions of american classics like moby dick, treasure island, and oliver twist. i learned sarcasm from calvin & hobbes and self-deprecation from dave barry. while other kids sketched the air jordan logo i penned poems and taglines. i authored a series of novellas about a prizefighter in an underground circuit and sold copies to my ever-encouraging parents for a quarter apiece. i submitted short stories to newspapers, editorials to magazines, and fan letters to my favorite brands. when the vlasic pickle company received my letter describing how much their commercial made me want to bite into a crunchy, tasty, vlasic pickle, they responded with a voucher for a free jar. circa 1994. let’s call it my first commercially compensated writing gig.

after high school i spent a single year at the university of wisconsin–milwaukee.

go panthers.

when that didn’t take, i departed on a multi-year endeavor i’d like to call a coming-of-age adventure, though i admit that’s a bit romanticized. my wanderings found me working retail in los angeles on two separate occasions and bartending in wellfleet massachusetts—out on ye old cape cod. thankfully i navigated my way relatively unscathed through that era of life and returned to school at the university of wisconsin–stevens point.

go pointers.

i graduated in 2009 with a ba in communication and moved to oregon shortly after.

go ducks.

like any cosmo kramer or mr. magoo, i believe that a series of ill-advised missteps have led me to exactly where i was meant to be. i’ve been writing and exploring and loving my time in the pacific northwest since the moment i arrived. portland will always be my home, but i try to be never too far removed from my next adventure—if only to keep people guessing.

this entire exercise has been grossly self-indulgent and unhelpful and i apologize, but i thank you for seeing it through.

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