My parents had a hard time putting down roots.

I spent my formative years running around the English countryside and old villages of the South of France. Then was teleported to the sun-scorched and surf wax-stained San Fernando Valley in 6th grade. There’s always been friction between those opposite identities. The well-mannered blue blood and the kid who’d fuck off for 5 hours riding shorebreak at Zuma beach.

As I grew I was increasingly attracted to people and pursuits that ran counter to the safety of all that conditioned etiquette and anything that quieted my restlessness. I took up fringe sports like bodyboarding, rock climbing, and trail running. I got sweaty in mosh pits, slept on the beach, studied art and made Flash websites for my sister’s friends in my spare time.

I got my foot in the door making movie websites for Sony Pictures in 2008 and did everything I could to stack experience and stretch myself from there. I’d quit jobs when the challenge dried up and move to the next. That restlessness led me to design flight control systems for autonomous aircraft alongside NASA engineers, define the visual design principles for a global streaming product, invent a new way to experience car buying online and build 100s of banner ads for a creative campaign I had nothing to do with (a right of passage).

Almost 20 years on that path now and the challenges come from different places. How do you build and scale, both a top-performing but also a happy and fulfilled creative team? How do you launch a project in the face of messy corporate politics? How do you raise two kids, have a healthy marriage, stay in touch with close friends, call your dad more than twice a year, renovate a house, exercise regularly and have a great career at the same time?

I still live in the Valley, I don’t get in the water as much as I used to but I’m still scratching the creative itch as a leader, builder and champion of the Work.