what I really want to focus on today is
how I let
guide me to a place of finding something
that I was really passionate about in
life and as I look back on a little
journey that got me this far I start to
realize pretty pretty quick that I
didn’t take the most conventional
approach to it you know it was hard for
me to find motivation to move forward
with things I wasn’t passionate about it
so when it came to schooling it was
heated like I got an F I got an A you
know something that I wasn’t so
passionate about or something I was
really passionate about personally I did
a lot of my exploring outside of school
about music I played the piano
I studied the violin I was actually part
of a junior symphony back in my hometown
up until the point where I realized that
much rather spent its then at home
practicing found sports baseball
basketball soccer you name it I played
it out engulfed myself in skateboarding
completely and I guess you could say
that maybe my my first true love
breakfast lunch dinner I mean he
breathes slept it it’s all I cared about
everything else was background noise and
then I got injured pretty good when I
was away from skateboarding I found my
next love heart and when I found art I
kind of never looked back started with
graffiti which I must say got me in a
good bit of trouble
and it would evolve into tattooing and
would eventually evolve in a much more
you know it seems as though everybody’s
got an idea of what a meaningful life is
to them you know how many times you
heard someone tell you you know this
they know what’s best for you and this
is the life you should be living and I’m
not one to say you know one way is
better than the next but what I will say
what I feel is really important is to
find out what a meaningful life is to
you to me and the only way to genuinely
do that is to explore you know kind of
approaching each new home and each new
experience each new obstacle there’s an
old man your own woman looking through
those moments aren’t even growing along
the way and when you’re in those spaces
where you’re kind of you know figuring
things out you’re not worried about what
this person thinks about what you’re
doing there you know how this person
feels about it or how society feels
about it you know it’s okay to be
different it’s okay to be an individual
and society maybe is one of the ones
that kind of gives us the most pressure
in that department you know you it’s
almost like society wants you to fit
into a mold you know offer you these
paths that you’re supposed to take and
it’s our jobs to poke holes in it
especially as creatives so I know when I
talk about you know jumping from one
thing to the next it may sound like it
was easy for me but you know it it
definitely wasn’t when I realized I
wasn’t gonna be the next Michael Jordan
it was a tough pill to swallow and when
I got injured from skateboarding my
whole world came crashing down you know
I didn’t know what I was gonna do next
and I think what I’m trying to touch up
on here something that I think we all
know to be true is that it seems as
though we move on to that next thing it
gets a little bit harder and a little
bit harder to do so and maybe it’s
because we’re kind of holding on to
these frustrations and these feelings
that we felt before
when we had these high hopes for this
thing and it you know it didn’t work out
the way we hoped it would maybe we were
vulnerable to that thing and let down
and you know it sucks I get it
I’ve definitely been there before many
times and for me when I was in those
places and it came time to choosing what
to do next I always chose to keep moving
forward keep exploring and with each new
world I explored I started to learn more
about myself more about what I was
capable of you know my strengths my
weaknesses and to be honest you know
over the course of my life and you not
get I’m still a puppy but that’s one of
the things I’m most proud of is that you
know I’ve never waited for the stars to
align I got on that road I let it take
me to where it was supposed to and you
know even if it didn’t work out the way
I’d hoped
kept moving forward so I built my first
tattoo machine
I used the motor from a Walkman radio i
chiseled down a guitar string rig this
thing up maybe about 15 16 here
tattooing one of my friends and even my
parents garage or maybe it was like a
motel 6 it could have easily been either
one at this point and for the next 30 or
so years I started to roll in the
neighborhoods and tattoo anybody and
everybody I could find and I was having
a blast doing it what could you imagine
what my parents were thinking well maybe
society was thinking right you know I
never let those pressures get in the way
of me finding my own truth you know I
knew how I felt about what I was doing
and and it was a hundred percent sincere
and I always wanted to find my own way
in life I didn’t want to live somebody
else’s like
so this went on for a little bit and
about 18 or so I met a man named angel
it was kind of like a second father to
me now and he gave me my first real shot
at working at the tattoo shop and this
was almost my first real shot at being
maybe legitimate and not this you know
young knucklehead kid tattooing your son
or daughter at your house when you’re at
work kind of thing and it felt like it
was my first real shot and also exciting
times for me and that went on for a
little while until I reached someone
would have a different roadblock but it
wasn’t like before it wasn’t that I
wasn’t passionate about what I was doing
so far so I kind of had these questions
start to creep up in my head and kind of
took the shape of you know are you
reaching your full potential
I’m the sole surviving son of my whole
family name my family actually survived
the Holocaust my pops was born in a camp
in Austria and nine years after they
fled their village in Poland
they made it through Ellis Island and
into America hopes for a better life for
themselves in the family and I used to
think a lot about what that meant others
others had to endure so that I could
have the life and the opportunities I
have now I still think a lot about that
now and so I’m kind of chewing on these
things in my head right I reached my
full potential and my taking advantage
of opportunities there in front of me
you know things are pretty good right
now I’m comfortable is that is that a
good thing and comfort a bad thing and I
decided to do the unthinkable my parents
couldn’t believe it
young Jewish kid who barely made it out
of high school can you guess what I
wasn’t dead I would go on I would study
the Torah and become a rabbi I’m just
kidding oh yeah clothes I’ll go back to
school and study but this time I’ll take
classes that I was interested in I took
an art class which was actually my first
art class a philosophy class where I met
Socrates for the first time and kind of
this life-changing moment experience I
was blessed with this unquenchable
thirst to learn and grow and be my best
self and it felt amazing so I told
myself okay if you’re gonna do this do
it at the highest level and I started to
search the world for this art and design
school that I was gonna go to and it did
not matter where it was if it was the
right one I was gonna go you know I was
looking in Russia at the repin Academy
the Florence Academy in Italy the East
Coast and then I found a place called
Art Center
so I got my car it’s about an eight-hour
drive from Northern California and I
come visit Hogwarts excuse me I’d sooner
I toured the campus and I just knew it
was the right place for me I was so
excited that I got back home I put
together my portfolio I shipped it out
and I waited and I got the acceptance
letter in the mail and it was kind of
like oh like I guess I gotta go
through with this now right I got my car
on the left now maybe this is one of
those things that sounds a little bit
easier than it was right like just get
in your car and go it’s sounds pretty
easy right but it most definitely wasn’t
I was getting ready to leave my hometown
which actually got tattooed across my
stomach when I was 18 because I never
thought I was gonna leave this place you
know my friends my family everything I
had known and my young puppy life was
was there a tattoo shop my extended
tattoo family I had some of the best
times of my life there and Here I am I’m
getting ready to leave all this for
something that’s not guaranteed I don’t
know how this is gonna work out so I was
telling myself you know if I don’t do
this maybe I won’t reach my full
potential maybe I’m not taking advantage
of these opportunities in front of me
and then maybe was enough and maybe I’ll
fail too right and that’s okay and what
I’ve learned is that failure is one of
these words you give way too much
respect too
you know we kind of I don’t know if it’s
in our our nature to sometimes feel
sorry for ourselves or you know make
sense out of these moments of
disappointment and frustration as these
life ending times but were they ever
that of course not you know it’s it’s
really about a matter of perspective on
how we tend to look at these moments you
know and instead of looking at them as
an ending point why not a beginning
something to build on
which is what life is you continue to
grow and build along the way right it
can be a memory and experience a lesson
again however we choose to shape and
we’re all capable of that so I’m in my
car I’m heading towards this foreign
place and some of the logistical things
that I probably should have thought
about a little bit more before I left
they’re starting to trickle in kind of
like where am I gonna work where am I
gonna live and I’m starting to get a
little bit emotional and I’m not gonna
lie I was crying a little bit I was
debating not putting that in – maybe
salvaged some of the street cred I had
left but sure and once I got that out of
my system what followed was one of the
biggest smiles I think I can ever
remember because I was proud of myself
that I’d found the courage to take this
leap in life and I was on this new
chapter in life and even though life was
good back home even though I was going
into a direction where maybe it wasn’t
gonna work out how I’d hoped you know
that’s okay and I knew I had made the
right decision because I was working
through these obstacles and not shying
away from her and I also learned you
know I almost think the harder the
decision it’s like when we know it’s an
important decision right and to be
honest I think the times when things
didn’t work out the way I had hoped that
the times that I’d learned the most and
when things didn’t work out the way I
had hoped maybe I didn’t learn so much
so again he’s a moments that aren’t that
bad of a thing so I get down to LA and I
guess it’s time to figure it out right
again no place to live no place to work
and I decided to go see a man named Jose
Lopez which if you know anything about
black and gray tattooing he’s kind of
like the Michael Jordan of this thing so
I pop in one night I’d never met him
before it’s about 11:00
he’s tattooing
and we end up talking till about 3:00
4:00 in the morning and at the end of
that conversation he asked me if I would
like to come work with him and in my
head I’m kind of going crazy like well
just dream come true type stuff so I
start school about a week later I’m
working alongside one of my heroes and
things seem to be going pretty good but
what I learned too is when good things
happen in life you know you’re gonna
have to earn them and in this situation
it was gonna require a lot of work you
know Art Center’s got this reputation
for being somewhat of a difficult school
and yeah you guys know and I think a
more accurate description of this place
is it’s almost like it’s like a Navy
SEAL boot camp sort of training with a
little sprinkle of art design teaching
somewhere in there
and I’m dedicating about 80 hours a week
to school alone and on the side I’m
tattooing maybe 50 hours a week on top
of that with hose Jose doesn’t leave a
lot of room for sleep and I’m getting a
little bit overwhelmed but kind of
starting to question myself a little bit
like I can be able to do this thing and
somewhat of a moment of weakness one
night I decided to call my pops he’s in
the audience today with probably the big
smile on his face cuz he loves to tell
this story and I kind of share with them
a little bit about you know what I’m
thinking about him questioning if I can
do this thinking about maybe giving up
you know what he tells me he goes son if
you’re looking for sympathy it’s
somewhere in the dictionary between
and syphilis
and if I were to translate that for you
guys I think what he meant by that was
uh you know we’re here for you
unconditionally everything’s gonna be
okay we love you all right pop something
like that but what I also realized that
when I’m in these moments when I’m maybe
doubting myself you know I’m putting
hard position I’m not calling people
that are gonna agree with me they’re
gonna kind of feed into the way I’m
feeling I’m calling people and reaching
out to people that are gonna challenge
me challenge my way of thinking you know
help shape my perspective and you know
maybe not in that example is the best
one that pops has always been there for
me so needless to say I get back to work
in tattooing with Jose I’m learning
growing so much I’m building my tattoo
career simultaneously with my studies at
Art Center and an Art Center I’m
expanding my mind in ways I couldn’t
believe you know I’m learning about art
design painting on my breaks from school
we’re going to Europe London Italy all
over and we’re kind of conducting these
pop-up studio campaigns with Jose and
I’ve never worked so hard in my life and
I was having an absolute blast
I just goes on for a little while longer
until it was about maybe my last year at
Art Center and he start to kind of start
to trickle in a little bit more and I’m
kind of asking myself or telling myself
like you’re not doing enough you’re not
doing enough what’s going on and then
I’m having this conversation in my head
right and I’m going like how you
thinking like that I mean you’ve never
worked so hard in your life how is this
not enough and what I soon realized I
was starting to have all these ideas of
my own there’s no ideas of how I wanted
to grow and shape my water through my
tattoos how I wanted to contribute to
the craft of tattooing and try and help
it evolve and grow and elevate
and I started to realize it I needed my
own space for these ideas to cultivate
he know it’s time to do my own thing I
searched all over LA for this space
Roslyn build you know my new studio and
just when I thought I wasn’t gonna find
it I walked into what some may think of
is you know like a raw empty garage but
to me it was the blank canvas that I was
gonna paint my new dream studio there I
put together a team and we got to work
and we will build house studios and the
thing that I really want to hit home
today is that the same way I’m
approaching these new ideas I’m having
it the same way I’ve been approaching
this whole journey this far is what I’m
exploring these ideas I’m not worried if
they’re not gonna work out the way I
hope cuz that’s okay we learned that I’m
gonna learn from that continue to move
forward and eventually it’s gonna take
my art to a place that is supposed to be
you know I hope these words today will
maybe help inspire some of you to find
out and continue to shape what a
meaningful life means to you I know you
all have so many amazing ideas to share
with the world and I say this with the
utmost sincerity I cannot wait to see
you all bring those ideas and make them
a reality thank you
you
how I let
guide me to a place of finding something
that I was really passionate about in
life and as I look back on a little
journey that got me this far I start to
realize pretty pretty quick that I
didn’t take the most conventional
approach to it you know it was hard for
me to find motivation to move forward
with things I wasn’t passionate about it
so when it came to schooling it was
heated like I got an F I got an A you
know something that I wasn’t so
passionate about or something I was
really passionate about personally I did
a lot of my exploring outside of school
about music I played the piano
I studied the violin I was actually part
of a junior symphony back in my hometown
up until the point where I realized that
much rather spent its then at home
practicing found sports baseball
basketball soccer you name it I played
it out engulfed myself in skateboarding
completely and I guess you could say
that maybe my my first true love
breakfast lunch dinner I mean he
breathes slept it it’s all I cared about
everything else was background noise and
then I got injured pretty good when I
was away from skateboarding I found my
next love heart and when I found art I
kind of never looked back started with
graffiti which I must say got me in a
good bit of trouble
and it would evolve into tattooing and
would eventually evolve in a much more
you know it seems as though everybody’s
got an idea of what a meaningful life is
to them you know how many times you
heard someone tell you you know this
they know what’s best for you and this
is the life you should be living and I’m
not one to say you know one way is
better than the next but what I will say
what I feel is really important is to
find out what a meaningful life is to
you to me and the only way to genuinely
do that is to explore you know kind of
approaching each new home and each new
experience each new obstacle there’s an
old man your own woman looking through
those moments aren’t even growing along
the way and when you’re in those spaces
where you’re kind of you know figuring
things out you’re not worried about what
this person thinks about what you’re
doing there you know how this person
feels about it or how society feels
about it you know it’s okay to be
different it’s okay to be an individual
and society maybe is one of the ones
that kind of gives us the most pressure
in that department you know you it’s
almost like society wants you to fit
into a mold you know offer you these
paths that you’re supposed to take and
it’s our jobs to poke holes in it
especially as creatives so I know when I
talk about you know jumping from one
thing to the next it may sound like it
was easy for me but you know it it
definitely wasn’t when I realized I
wasn’t gonna be the next Michael Jordan
it was a tough pill to swallow and when
I got injured from skateboarding my
whole world came crashing down you know
I didn’t know what I was gonna do next
and I think what I’m trying to touch up
on here something that I think we all
know to be true is that it seems as
though we move on to that next thing it
gets a little bit harder and a little
bit harder to do so and maybe it’s
because we’re kind of holding on to
these frustrations and these feelings
that we felt before
when we had these high hopes for this
thing and it you know it didn’t work out
the way we hoped it would maybe we were
vulnerable to that thing and let down
and you know it sucks I get it
I’ve definitely been there before many
times and for me when I was in those
places and it came time to choosing what
to do next I always chose to keep moving
forward keep exploring and with each new
world I explored I started to learn more
about myself more about what I was
capable of you know my strengths my
weaknesses and to be honest you know
over the course of my life and you not
get I’m still a puppy but that’s one of
the things I’m most proud of is that you
know I’ve never waited for the stars to
align I got on that road I let it take
me to where it was supposed to and you
know even if it didn’t work out the way
I’d hoped
kept moving forward so I built my first
tattoo machine
I used the motor from a Walkman radio i
chiseled down a guitar string rig this
thing up maybe about 15 16 here
tattooing one of my friends and even my
parents garage or maybe it was like a
motel 6 it could have easily been either
one at this point and for the next 30 or
so years I started to roll in the
neighborhoods and tattoo anybody and
everybody I could find and I was having
a blast doing it what could you imagine
what my parents were thinking well maybe
society was thinking right you know I
never let those pressures get in the way
of me finding my own truth you know I
knew how I felt about what I was doing
and and it was a hundred percent sincere
and I always wanted to find my own way
in life I didn’t want to live somebody
else’s like
so this went on for a little bit and
about 18 or so I met a man named angel
it was kind of like a second father to
me now and he gave me my first real shot
at working at the tattoo shop and this
was almost my first real shot at being
maybe legitimate and not this you know
young knucklehead kid tattooing your son
or daughter at your house when you’re at
work kind of thing and it felt like it
was my first real shot and also exciting
times for me and that went on for a
little while until I reached someone
would have a different roadblock but it
wasn’t like before it wasn’t that I
wasn’t passionate about what I was doing
so far so I kind of had these questions
start to creep up in my head and kind of
took the shape of you know are you
reaching your full potential
I’m the sole surviving son of my whole
family name my family actually survived
the Holocaust my pops was born in a camp
in Austria and nine years after they
fled their village in Poland
they made it through Ellis Island and
into America hopes for a better life for
themselves in the family and I used to
think a lot about what that meant others
others had to endure so that I could
have the life and the opportunities I
have now I still think a lot about that
now and so I’m kind of chewing on these
things in my head right I reached my
full potential and my taking advantage
of opportunities there in front of me
you know things are pretty good right
now I’m comfortable is that is that a
good thing and comfort a bad thing and I
decided to do the unthinkable my parents
couldn’t believe it
young Jewish kid who barely made it out
of high school can you guess what I
wasn’t dead I would go on I would study
the Torah and become a rabbi I’m just
kidding oh yeah clothes I’ll go back to
school and study but this time I’ll take
classes that I was interested in I took
an art class which was actually my first
art class a philosophy class where I met
Socrates for the first time and kind of
this life-changing moment experience I
was blessed with this unquenchable
thirst to learn and grow and be my best
self and it felt amazing so I told
myself okay if you’re gonna do this do
it at the highest level and I started to
search the world for this art and design
school that I was gonna go to and it did
not matter where it was if it was the
right one I was gonna go you know I was
looking in Russia at the repin Academy
the Florence Academy in Italy the East
Coast and then I found a place called
Art Center
so I got my car it’s about an eight-hour
drive from Northern California and I
come visit Hogwarts excuse me I’d sooner
I toured the campus and I just knew it
was the right place for me I was so
excited that I got back home I put
together my portfolio I shipped it out
and I waited and I got the acceptance
letter in the mail and it was kind of
like oh like I guess I gotta go
through with this now right I got my car
on the left now maybe this is one of
those things that sounds a little bit
easier than it was right like just get
in your car and go it’s sounds pretty
easy right but it most definitely wasn’t
I was getting ready to leave my hometown
which actually got tattooed across my
stomach when I was 18 because I never
thought I was gonna leave this place you
know my friends my family everything I
had known and my young puppy life was
was there a tattoo shop my extended
tattoo family I had some of the best
times of my life there and Here I am I’m
getting ready to leave all this for
something that’s not guaranteed I don’t
know how this is gonna work out so I was
telling myself you know if I don’t do
this maybe I won’t reach my full
potential maybe I’m not taking advantage
of these opportunities in front of me
and then maybe was enough and maybe I’ll
fail too right and that’s okay and what
I’ve learned is that failure is one of
these words you give way too much
respect too
you know we kind of I don’t know if it’s
in our our nature to sometimes feel
sorry for ourselves or you know make
sense out of these moments of
disappointment and frustration as these
life ending times but were they ever
that of course not you know it’s it’s
really about a matter of perspective on
how we tend to look at these moments you
know and instead of looking at them as
an ending point why not a beginning
something to build on
which is what life is you continue to
grow and build along the way right it
can be a memory and experience a lesson
again however we choose to shape and
we’re all capable of that so I’m in my
car I’m heading towards this foreign
place and some of the logistical things
that I probably should have thought
about a little bit more before I left
they’re starting to trickle in kind of
like where am I gonna work where am I
gonna live and I’m starting to get a
little bit emotional and I’m not gonna
lie I was crying a little bit I was
debating not putting that in – maybe
salvaged some of the street cred I had
left but sure and once I got that out of
my system what followed was one of the
biggest smiles I think I can ever
remember because I was proud of myself
that I’d found the courage to take this
leap in life and I was on this new
chapter in life and even though life was
good back home even though I was going
into a direction where maybe it wasn’t
gonna work out how I’d hoped you know
that’s okay and I knew I had made the
right decision because I was working
through these obstacles and not shying
away from her and I also learned you
know I almost think the harder the
decision it’s like when we know it’s an
important decision right and to be
honest I think the times when things
didn’t work out the way I had hoped that
the times that I’d learned the most and
when things didn’t work out the way I
had hoped maybe I didn’t learn so much
so again he’s a moments that aren’t that
bad of a thing so I get down to LA and I
guess it’s time to figure it out right
again no place to live no place to work
and I decided to go see a man named Jose
Lopez which if you know anything about
black and gray tattooing he’s kind of
like the Michael Jordan of this thing so
I pop in one night I’d never met him
before it’s about 11:00
he’s tattooing
and we end up talking till about 3:00
4:00 in the morning and at the end of
that conversation he asked me if I would
like to come work with him and in my
head I’m kind of going crazy like well
just dream come true type stuff so I
start school about a week later I’m
working alongside one of my heroes and
things seem to be going pretty good but
what I learned too is when good things
happen in life you know you’re gonna
have to earn them and in this situation
it was gonna require a lot of work you
know Art Center’s got this reputation
for being somewhat of a difficult school
and yeah you guys know and I think a
more accurate description of this place
is it’s almost like it’s like a Navy
SEAL boot camp sort of training with a
little sprinkle of art design teaching
somewhere in there
and I’m dedicating about 80 hours a week
to school alone and on the side I’m
tattooing maybe 50 hours a week on top
of that with hose Jose doesn’t leave a
lot of room for sleep and I’m getting a
little bit overwhelmed but kind of
starting to question myself a little bit
like I can be able to do this thing and
somewhat of a moment of weakness one
night I decided to call my pops he’s in
the audience today with probably the big
smile on his face cuz he loves to tell
this story and I kind of share with them
a little bit about you know what I’m
thinking about him questioning if I can
do this thinking about maybe giving up
you know what he tells me he goes son if
you’re looking for sympathy it’s
somewhere in the dictionary between
and syphilis
and if I were to translate that for you
guys I think what he meant by that was
uh you know we’re here for you
unconditionally everything’s gonna be
okay we love you all right pop something
like that but what I also realized that
when I’m in these moments when I’m maybe
doubting myself you know I’m putting
hard position I’m not calling people
that are gonna agree with me they’re
gonna kind of feed into the way I’m
feeling I’m calling people and reaching
out to people that are gonna challenge
me challenge my way of thinking you know
help shape my perspective and you know
maybe not in that example is the best
one that pops has always been there for
me so needless to say I get back to work
in tattooing with Jose I’m learning
growing so much I’m building my tattoo
career simultaneously with my studies at
Art Center and an Art Center I’m
expanding my mind in ways I couldn’t
believe you know I’m learning about art
design painting on my breaks from school
we’re going to Europe London Italy all
over and we’re kind of conducting these
pop-up studio campaigns with Jose and
I’ve never worked so hard in my life and
I was having an absolute blast
I just goes on for a little while longer
until it was about maybe my last year at
Art Center and he start to kind of start
to trickle in a little bit more and I’m
kind of asking myself or telling myself
like you’re not doing enough you’re not
doing enough what’s going on and then
I’m having this conversation in my head
right and I’m going like how you
thinking like that I mean you’ve never
worked so hard in your life how is this
not enough and what I soon realized I
was starting to have all these ideas of
my own there’s no ideas of how I wanted
to grow and shape my water through my
tattoos how I wanted to contribute to
the craft of tattooing and try and help
it evolve and grow and elevate
and I started to realize it I needed my
own space for these ideas to cultivate
he know it’s time to do my own thing I
searched all over LA for this space
Roslyn build you know my new studio and
just when I thought I wasn’t gonna find
it I walked into what some may think of
is you know like a raw empty garage but
to me it was the blank canvas that I was
gonna paint my new dream studio there I
put together a team and we got to work
and we will build house studios and the
thing that I really want to hit home
today is that the same way I’m
approaching these new ideas I’m having
it the same way I’ve been approaching
this whole journey this far is what I’m
exploring these ideas I’m not worried if
they’re not gonna work out the way I
hope cuz that’s okay we learned that I’m
gonna learn from that continue to move
forward and eventually it’s gonna take
my art to a place that is supposed to be
you know I hope these words today will
maybe help inspire some of you to find
out and continue to shape what a
meaningful life means to you I know you
all have so many amazing ideas to share
with the world and I say this with the
utmost sincerity I cannot wait to see
you all bring those ideas and make them
a reality thank you
you
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