About
How I got here, in six chapters.
Wrestler, van lifer, founder, builder.
I’m an AI product engineer. Before software, I wrestled Division I for Michigan State, lived for two years in a van my brother and I built, was a founding employee at a licensed cannabis delivery startup in Marin, and co-founded a camper van rental company. None of it was a straight line, but I’ve always been building something: a van, a brand, a business, a home, and now AI products.
012009 – 2015
The mat
I wrestled for 24 years. At Michigan State I started four seasons, won 93 matches, qualified for the NCAA Championships three times and captained the team.
After graduating I spent a year at Stanford as a volunteer assistant coach, working with the team and running the Cardinal Youth Wrestling Club.
- School
- Michigan State, then Stanford
- Record
- 93 wins · 3× NCAA qualifier
- Role
- Team captain, then coach
What it leftShow up every day, take the hit, stay in the match. Most hard problems give way to that.
022016 – 2018
The road
In the summer of 2016, after a career of wrestling, my brother Mukwa and I built out a van for $1,600, while he was going through the hardest fight of his life. At the end of that summer I moved into Kamala (that’s what I named the van), drove out to California and lived in it for two years.
Mukwa pulled through a life-saving surgery, moved into a camper of his own and met me out in California. Together we started Modern Day Mavericks, a blog and vlog about living that way. It didn’t last long: I stayed in California, and Mukwa moved on to Kentucky.
Coyote Coffee in Mill Valley was one of my first jobs in Marin, and it became my home away from home. I worked there on and off for about six years, and for one of them I worked seven days a week, with the van parked nearby. I was the first person a lot of people saw when they started their day, and I didn’t take that for granted.
Coyote was a vortex. After a life of going deep in wrestling, it taught me to connect with people in ways that had nothing to do with the mat. Between the van and Coyote, I let go of being only a wrestler and started to experience the world more openly.
Then I drove the van home to Michigan and set out alone on a bike: 21 days from Normal, Illinois, to Denver, Colorado. I was already Nice Guys’ social media manager, so I made its content from the road.
After Denver I went back to California, parked the bike and was promoted to marketing manager at Nice Guys.
- Van
- Kamala, built with Mukwa for $1,600
- Started
- Modern Day Mavericks, with Mukwa
- Ride
- 21 days solo, Normal, IL → Denver, CO
What it leftWork doesn’t need an office. I ran a brand’s social media from a bike seat.
02.A
Two years on the road
From building the van in Michigan to riding a bike into Denver. Open any frame to look closer.
01My van, and the camper Mukwa moved into
02Mukwa and the camper he moved into
03Stripped down, before the build-out
04Working on the van
05The floor goes in
06Building it out, the month’s plan taped up
07Lightning on the drive across the country
08Rolling through the trees
09Broke down in Montana: I blew the heater core on the way out west
10Arms open on the coast road
11Parked in the redwoods
12Parked under the Golden Gate
13Where I often slept, up on Mount Tam above Mill Valley
14The final build. I rebuilt the inside three times.
15A walk through the van
16Putting solar on the roof
17Rain, a leak, a tarp. Van life wasn’t always glamorous.
18Evening light, bike out
19On the Road, with a kitten
20Modern Day Mavericks, the hat
21My last tournament: the 2017 U.S. Open, in my Dan the Van Man singlet
22Loaded up outside Coyote Coffee, Mill Valley
23From my friend Mort Sahl, from the Coyote Coffee years
24The cables up Half Dome
25On the cables, in the fog
26Training for the ride
27The bike, at home in the van
Normal, IL → Denver, CO
21 days
Solo on a loaded touring bike, making the startup’s social content from the road.
28Loaded up for the ride
29Riding, from the handlebars
30Camp along the way
31Checking in from the road
32An old barn on the route
33Talking while I ride
34Partway through the ride
35Luray, Kansas
36Crossing into Colorado
37Oasis Service, Bennett, Colorado
38Camped by a reservoir
032017 – 2020
Nice Guys Delivery
I was a founding employee at Nice Guys Delivery, a fast-growing licensed cannabis delivery service in Marin County. I started out driving deliveries and running social media, and when I got back from the ride I was promoted to marketing manager.
That meant magazine ads, trade shows and building a brand in a heavily regulated industry, with strict rules on what you can say and where.
- Company
- Nice Guys Delivery
- Joined
- Founding employee
- Role
- Driver → marketing manager
- Where
- Marin County, California
What it leftMarketing a small business under real limits: a tight budget, strict rules, and customers who need to trust you first.
042020 – 2023
Simple Campers
I co-founded Simple Campers, professionally managed peer-to-peer camper van rentals out of Mill Valley, California.
We launched with one van in 2020 and grew to fifteen under management before I left in 2023. I ran marketing and the technical side.
- Role
- Co-founder
- Fleet
- 1 van → 15 vans
- Where
- Mill Valley, California
What it leftI know what running a small business takes, because I’ve done it. So I come to every client project thinking like an owner, not just a builder.
04.A
A day in a Simple Camper
Follow one day on the road, from first light to stars. Open any frame to look closer.
01Camped under the cypress
02Popping the roof tent
03Heading out on foot
04Red rock country
05Awning out, chairs out
Three ways in
Rent. Buy. Partner.
Rent one for a trip, buy one of your own, or put yours in the fleet and have it managed for you.
06The co-pilot
07Parked in the high desert
08By the lake
09Back on the coast
2020 → 2023
1 → 15
Vans under management, grown from a single van in Mill Valley.
10Rolling in
11Two rigs, one view
12Camp on the ridge
13Lights on, door open
14Under the stars
052024 – now
Software
I started building SaaS products for agency clients, then joined a small team building an AI video production platform for enterprise media teams.
There I’ve integrated more than 100 generative image, video and audio models and connected them to Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Blender. Work made on the platform has aired on Channel 5 in the UK and been recognized at film festivals.
- Models
- 100+ integrated
- Aired
- Channel 5, UK
- Now
- AI products and websites
What it leftThe model is the easy part. The hard part is making it fit the way people already work, so they actually use it.
062025
Rural living
My partner and I designed and built our home by hand, from the ground up, out in the country.
Out here we keep learning to do more for ourselves. We make our own vanilla extract, and right now there’s a batch of homemade apple cider vinegar going.
- Built by
- My partner and me
- Where
- Rural Michigan
What it leftDoing things yourself teaches you how they actually work. I bring that to every project.
Now
AI products for creative teams, and websites for small businesses.