The guy who
builds worlds
and fills them
with people.

I spent a decade building hospitality concepts in Minot, North Dakota. Not just running bars, but creating distinct worlds with their own identities, audiences, and stories. Saul's didn't feel like Dad's. Miracle didn't feel like Fun on a Bun. That was intentional. That's brand work.

I wrote my own press releases. I pitched local TV stations. I secured a Food Network magazine interview. I co-founded the Little Chicago Pub District and spoke to the AP wire about Minot's history. I testified at City Council to advocate for my industry. When COVID hit mid-way through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, I kept going, completing a Babson College curriculum while pivoting to cocktail delivery and cross-branding with a fine dining restaurant to keep both businesses alive.

COVID was a black swan that permanently changed the rules of the game. I spent six years doing CPR on businesses in a world that had already moved on. I learned an enormous amount in that time. I also learned that trying harder stops mattering when the ground has fundamentally shifted beneath you. I was running businesses when I should have been building brands. It took losing everything I thought I was building to see that clearly. Then I built a 7,400-mile, 8-state wedding road trip with a documentary crew, a podcast, and a multi-category national brand partnership campaign -- from scratch. No agency. No team. No budget. Just the same instincts I've been running on since 2016.

"If not anybody else, then might as well be me."