NOMAD January 2019

NOMAD A Guide for the Trailblazer

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CO N NECT WI TH U S NOMADtheMag NOMADtheMag NOMADtheMag

NOMAD is a guide for the trailblazer. We curate stories of exploration on the journey towards innovation. For those who struggle making the first step on their journey, we help build confidence. We are the first step.

Let's Begin.

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heers! Here we are in 2019. I have a lot of updates for what is happening to the brand that is NOMAD. Firstly, NOMAD is reaching a much larger audience, and with this comes the opportunity for a conversation this magazine was designed to encompass.

Secondly, the direction for NOMAD is solidifying, not only as a publication, but as a community. Lastly, I want to mention the number of

influencers who agreed not only to write, but also to be interviewed for NOMAD. The amount of support everyone has contributed to make this year’s issue a success was incredible. I couldn’t have done it alone, and I have you to thank for your hard work and dedication to the vision. This issue is dedicated to you, the foundation builders.

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QUICK PROGRESSION

connections with my cousins on a weekly basis, and I found I had some kind of clout to ask what was really going on in their lives. I was just

I want to talk about some improvements we made to the content creation and editing the magazine. At the beginning, it was just me putting everything together, writing for the magazine. Now, in this issue, we have a team contributing to the content of the issue, all pushing the same theme of trailblazing, our mission statement.

checking in on them, and then the idea sprouted from a conversation I had with my grandmother in 2014, “Justin, the cousins need to talk more, they need to connect more.” I agreed and I started putting together this magazine as a way of connecting family members who don’t speak regularly and as a way to also start a conversation from cousin to cousin.

"NOMAD is a guide for the trailblazer.

I started cobbling stories and ideas together, I

We curate stories of exploration on the

was aiming in the dark and had no idea what

journey towards innovation. For those who struggle making the first step on

was going to be the finished product. I began to delegate work, asking cousins to write something for the magazine and they all agreed. The magazine

their journey, we help build confidence.

also allowed me to keep more tabs on them. But

We are the first step."

time passed and I wasn’t making any headway.

To be honest, I didn’t have an adequate process

I’m finding there is a subtlety to establishing a voice for a publication consistently known through the issues. Something which is seen and heard by multiple writers. I haven’t been able to explore this completely just yet, but I have been noticing a contrast from the personal voice I had written in the previous two issues of NOMAD. While building the team to work on this issue, I needed to make decisions which were not only based on content curation, but also how the article was going to be viewed in the context of the whole. Understanding how these articles all mesh together is crucial to the

in place to make sure my cousins were making

magazine’s progression for this year.

everyone, and knew when I released it (before

NOMAD'S HISTORY The history of NOMAD is pretty simple to explain.

In 2016, a couple months before I graduated from college, I began to conjure up this idea of working to create a stronger network within my family, and began to brainstorm potential ideas to make this happen. I found I was the one making regular

progress and it took a serious amount of frustration and education before I could come up with something robust enough to get other writers to write their articles. I was just taking them at their word. As it became clear I was going to have a tough time getting anything from my cousins after months, I started stocking the magazine with my happenings: stories from work, stories of people who came to visit me in Toronto, and stories of travels with the family. It was 114 pages and I printed 10 issues. I distributed the issues to close friends and family. I received huge applauses from the applause even started), I was going to make NOMAD a yearly thing. I was just curious as to how big NOMAD was going to get, was my family going to help write content for the magazine?

Was I going to be able to bring up controversial issues which would spur discussion in my family?

I had no idea, but I began coming up with an adequate system to make sure I kept a timeline intact for making the magazine a yearly project.

In 2017, I really poured my heart and soul into the project, and when I was done with the publication, I was scared of releasing the magazine. So, I didn’t.

I did not release it in the way I wanted: on Facebook, on Instagram, blurting out for others to see what I had put together. Instead, I just told friends I had something I put together, here take a look. I ended up needing to start selling the magazine because of the popularity which came of it. There was absolutely no way I was able to keep up with the personal cost of printing how many issues were made. Friends of friends started to request issues, and I began to really struggle with how to deal with the volume. This is when it became clear there was a business opportunity.

DIRECTION AND VALUES NOMAD is a publication I would have bled for when I was in high school and college. It’s a publication which shows others the bigger picture of education; NOMAD celebrates the potential

a person can gain through self-education.

As Mark Twain famously said, “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

This does not discount schooling, but rather highlights how formalized education is not universal and there are plenty of avenues which are open for personal exploration. NOMAD is a publication curated for those with ambition.

This publication does not give you a reason to achieve something, but helps you accomplish that which you set your mind to achieve.

We are a magazine striving not only to challenge your idea of the status quo, but also help found new ideas from different perspectives. We are a publication striving to build confidence in individuals around not only how we act and how we want to be perceived by the world; but also, in how we see opportunities which are given to us everyday but we don’t harness. We often miss potential opportunities because we are focusing too much on the details, or we do not

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Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

have the foresight to know there was even an opportunity to seize. “Le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés - Chance favors only the prepared mind” by Louis Pasteur. The stories in NOMAD highlight those who seized the day and used their imagination (and by ‘imagination’ I mean have logically stepped through a series of ideas to come up with something actionable and original).

NOMAD will help you capture the next step in your education and give you the preparation necessary to seize upon the opportunity.

which cannot be explicitly expressed. With this in mind I continue to push the overall theme for NOMAD below.

NOMAD is not a publication in which you will find short stories to be enjoyed and then forgotten. You will find only opportunities, préparés votres esprits. As you read articles from people like yourself, you may see opportunities which the writer missed, you will reach into your own experiences giving yourself the opportunity to understand a scenario which the writer had not seen.

CULT IVAT I N G CO N TACTS

Reach out to these writers. Contact them and tell them what you learned from reading their story. With this you start a conversation in which the writer and reader can lead each other in new directions, teach new ways of thinking, and explore new opportunities. Not only are you stepping with the writer through the story, you are also learning why the writer didn’t write your idea--was it because they were too close to the action and didn’t see the opportunity?

Perhaps the writer faced a challenge you can help overcome or there were complications which prevented them from including the information about your idea in this venue.

This aspect of community is present in NOMAD’s previous two issues and is something which holds great potential. In the past few years, I have seen friends, as well as friends-of-friends, reacting to NOMAD. This reaction has brought me to believe I am touching on something which is unaccessible or not completely comprehensible, a tacit mentality

NOMAD is a magazine which pushes someone into movement. They cannot stand still because of a calling, an idea, or because they see an opportunity to progress society. These grand ideas need one small step to get started, and NOMAD holds the key to the first step. It provides you context to get moving, to help achieve your vision.

As I field tested this letter, there have been some questions as to how I come across contacts for NOMAD. For example, in this year’s edition there are various types of people who all hold to the theme above. This interaction is best described by Napoleon Hill, “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.”

NOMAD is the connector. I want to use this publication to change the way we think, act, and feel about education. Not learning, but education.

Society thinks education is directly related to school; in reality it’s related to gaining wisdom.

This is the core ethos and why we go to school.

Learning is what you do at school, where you memorize the spelling of words, you learn to work concepts, but you do not gain the experience you need to succeed in the world. It’s like reading about how to drive in a classroom and then being given a driver’s license at the end of the course without having the experience behind the wheel of a car. There is no substitution for experience, and this is where Mark Twain’s advice rings true.

I have curated friends to write for NOMAD, to talk about their lives, their businesses, their visions, and their goals. I found, that reading books on what people did during challenging aspects of their lives, dried my tears and kept

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“Le hasard ne favoriseque les esprits préparés Chance favors only the prepared mind” LOUIS PASTEUR

me moving forward. I have compiled interviews of various friends who have captivated me with what they accomplished this past year or have gone through personally. I have compiled stories from friends on thoughts they find imperative not only to the futures of their business but also the future of them personally.

As I continue to pursue this path to achieve my goals, I find people, naturally, who are aiming not in the same direction, but who are currently or have in the past faced the same struggles I am. Gravitating towards someone in conversation can only be done through general interest, and this is done on an expressive level with multiple conversations at various depths.

Getting to the core of a person is not as easy as cutting directly to the center of an onion but is done by peeling back one layer at a time, one conversation at a time. I postulate you are not capable of faking this gravitational pull, instead you must genuinely believe and be interested for what you want to achieve, and by doing so, you will attract others who are like you and who want to achieve the same vision. These are the partnerships created by a publication like NOMAD. Building a community which strives to harness the idea of crowdsourcing ideas.

the process of formalizing this publication and making it more than a backyard dream and into a magazine that cultivates, curates, underwrites, and facilitates progression.

I am tremendously excited about the positive response NOMAD has received. My last word will remain on NOMAD’s main theme of progression. As a friend of mine says, “Onward and Upward!” and I look forward to what the future will bring us.

Cheers!

ONE MORE T HIN G Every issue has had a big note, a topic which has dominated throughout. The theme for 2016 was my graduation from college and taking the next step into the working world.

The theme for 2017 was the conversation of coming out, my experience, and working with a nonprofit effort for emergency displaced LGBT youth. Ironically, these previous two themes meshed nicely with the overarching theme for NOMAD: progressing forward, pushing one’s self to the next extreme. This year’s theme is no different: foundation building. Encompassing what we aim to achieve with this issue. It starts

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OSCAR WILDE

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IF Matthew 5

Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

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TENTS Section One

entrepreneurs

Bringing you stories about treps on a journey. Take a deep dive into their struggles, successes, and fears with upcoming objectives.

Section Two

self-discovery

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.� - Aristotle

Section Three

about the story

"The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story." - Michael Margolis

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The Wolf of Fort Worth

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New World Wine Tours

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Cameron Mills Music

Entrepren eurs

“The good news about entrepreneurship is that your fate is in your hands. The bad news is that your fate is in your hands!� - Guy Kawasaki, Author

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ALBERT TRISTAN

THE WOLF OF FORT WORTH

Back in the day I was starting a fitness clothing company with a friend. We were called Wolf Pack Physiques; after seeing not only the impact of what I could do with the clothing we were selling as well as the velocity of the marketing campaign I was implementing.

Things began to take off, and I was bit by the entrepreneurial bug. From there I knew I could not get enough of that rush from building the brand and the impact on people of Wolf Pack Physiques. After a good run, things began to turn south with my business partner, and I started to see a rift form in our relationship. From the discussions we did not see eye-to-eye on the future vision of the company and team roles.

We ultimately decided to part ways.

Photos by: Justin McAfee

This is where the story really picks up. Someone noticed the work I was doing for Wolf Pack Physiques and recruited me to work for another clothing brand called Bingo 93. I became the Marketing Director and during the stint at Bingo 93, I hosted a launch party and ended up meeting a contact who had a connection to my previous mentor. The thing to note here is you must build bridges constantly and with everyone, because you have no idea who is going to lead you to a person who will throw your entire career path upside down and provide you with an opportunity to excel. As Louis Pasteur said, you need to be prepared to seize the opportunities before you, before you can accept them.

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THE INT E RN S HIP I can better explain this experience through my internship rather than my personal business.

Because the internship I was in was more of a business bootcamp. I had no choice but to endure everything possible to endure. At 19 years old the venture capitalist I met at that Bingo 93 launch party offered me an internship position to work for his multiple companies and learn his methods of business. So, of course, I dropped everything I had going and dove in 100% to the internship. I quit my job, dropped out of college and moved into a house with 5 strangers who were also under the same internship and some of the executives of the company. The experience was brutal‌. Our mentors’ philosophy

was, in order to change your finances, we must first change your mindset and reshape your philosophies. This was done by stripping us of everything we had and rebuilding us from nothing.

We had no income, no free time to socialize and engage in leisure activity with old friends (occasionally once a month we had time to relax).

We had a $100 allowance a month (which was used mainly to cover the minimal expenses we had: phone bill/gym membership). Our schedule was to wake up at 6am every morning, dressed and reading our books by 7 am, at the office by 8 am, and spend the day working on a variety of tasks from trainings, meetings, cold calls, followup calls, presentations, lead generation, training new partners, studying wealth, and studying investment strategies.

Our day would usually end around 8pm. Due to this schedule, I had little, if any, time to have a social life. As you can imagine, I lost many friends because I had no time to spend with them. I was beginning a relationship that dwindled away due to the lack of time I was able to commit to her.

This is a prime example of the social hardships I faced. I also went through personal hardships dealing with myself and my performance in the workplace. I was thrown into the fire of a business startup and went through immense failure. I also learned the fear of failure. I was a procrastinator and hesitator because I was afraid to fail. Prime examples of this fear are when I had to make a phone call or approach someone in public who did not know me. I had a million things running through my head - assuming worst case scenarios, dealing with fear, anxiety and rejection.

But it was breaking through those fears that I started to see results - building confidence, business, and myself that catapulted me through the ranks in the internship. After a year of learning and growing through the internship, I realized the path the company had planned for me was not the path I wanted for myself. I discovered my passion and purpose in life resides somewhere else. I decided to resign and move to Fort Worth with my childhood friend Xavier where I shifted my focus on the financial markets, investing, and education which I had been studying in my spare time at the internship. Thus came Wolf of All Streets…

PR ES EN T DAY # WOA S The idea and concept of #WOAS came from my motivation to connect like-minded individuals and provide a community for those who are enduring the journey of self improvement and success. As I’ve mentioned before, it can be a hard and lonely journey, and it’s one we must all go down. But with #WOAS you have a support team. We do this by helping educate others on imperative skills we do not learn in today’s educational system.

#WOAS is an organization founded upon health, wealth, love & happiness. We provide a community for those who strive for a larger goal in life and are looking to work with like-minded individuals. What makes this group so special is we may have different backgrounds, but everyone shares the common goal of achieving success and financial freedom in the eyes of the beholder, along with achieving fulfilment in life and living life to the fullest.

The two qualifications to join the group are: 1. Have a motivated mindset 2. A positive attitude Other than that, anyone with any dream that has ambition is welcome to #WOAS. We embrace diversity and cultivate multiple talents. The foundation of #WOAS was upon one simple man’s desire to surround himself with more likeminded individuals and help others looking for guidance while learning something new at the same time. You can see this play out in “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill; he had a mentality to bring people together to form a community.

Through this mentality Andrew Carnegie not only built up the confidence of others surrounding him, but was able to build the wealth of those who were beside him therefore improving society.

WH AT #WOA S OFFERS Currently #WOAS offers access to our financial markets “Trading Room” where we analyze markets together and provide setups (money making opportunities). Students also receive one-on-one support from me to answer any questions and provide psychological training (dealing with fear, greed, and uncertainty).

This is because trading is 90% psych and 10% technical. #WOAS offers people what they truly seek.

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Happiness. That is why we all do anything at the end of the day. Whether it's from work, relationships, purchases, or entertainment.

Everything we do and the decisions we make are ultimately to achieve a state of happiness.

To obtain happiness. If it didn’t make us happy we wouldn't do it. Growth, fellowship, abundance, and purpose all lead to happiness. Right now, I offer one-on-one personal and online training for physical fitness and foreign exchange markets, along with guidance and education on investment strategies utilized by the 5% which the 95% are not familiar with using. If getting in better shape, creating multiple sources of income and having your money work for you is your interest, do not hesitate to reach out to me personally. #WOAS aims to educate the masses to understand personal finance, investing, and obtaining financial freedom. We hold a personal mission to educate and rebuild America’s lost middle class. Most importantly, #WOAS provides a community for living a life of abundance and having powerful relationships with like-minded individuals. I’ve always had an interest in finance, and once I began to shine with my trading capability I knew I had to focus my strengths and help others in the ways I know how.

HAVE YOU EVER TURNED SOMEONE DOWN TO MENTOR?

Yes, when people want to learn something for the wrong reasons, I explain to them the process and the hardships they will face, then usually after some dialogue back and forth, they lose interest and instead seek some “get rich quick” schemes. While I am a beloved gym goer I am more known for my passion in the financial markets. But do not let that fool you. I often tell people, “I don’t get why people think I’m so ‘money hungry’, I’m not. As a matter of fact, I could care less about money. For me, money is just debt losing value every year. I care so little

I don’t get why people think I’m so ‘money hungry’, I’m not.

As a matter of fact, I could care less about money.

For me, money is just debt losing value every year. I care so little about money, I don’t believe anyone should work 40 hours a week for 40 years of their lives to get the damn thing. about money, I don’t believe anyone should work 40 hours a week for 40 years of their lives to get the damn thing.”

Fulfillment is an interesting subject, let alone goal. It’s a never ending journey or path you travel. I do not believe there is completion to a journey. There is only progress along the journey, which is the key to fulfillment. I have studied happiness and psychology from many great leaders. I have come to the belief that progress and purpose are keys to fulfillment.

As I learn new philosophies I turn to social media platforms to help teach and encourage others traveling along a similar journey or for those who seem lost. This points back to the aspects of community I highlighted earlier.

TO WHAT DO YOU AT TRIBUTE YOUR SUCCESS?

The mentor I lived with, my family, for the struggles and hardships I went through made me want to strive for more. Then my dedication to fitness, where it all started, which became the catalyst for me to strive for more success.

With a background in wrestling, mixed martial arts, and weight lifting, I believe a strong body supports a strong mind. Discipline and adversity are the formula for perseverance, and I credit a lot of my confidence to Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA. When you can step onto the mat or octagon knowing the person in front of you is trained to hurt you, and not be fearful, it’s a powerful feeling you only gain through hours and hours of hard work and dedication.

Physically and mentally. Last, obsession, be the best version of myself I can.

FUTUR E OF # WOAS We plan to help the lost middle class of America gain a strong hand on their finances and life.

Be on the lookout for ebooks covering financial logic you did not learn in school. For example, building credit, creating multiple streams of income or passive income and long term investment vehicles which are tax sheltered, protected on the downside of the markets and can participate on the upside. I want to provide the world with life hacks to help close the gap between the upper and lower class, because right now there is a dwindling middle class, and the sad truth is, most will fall into the lower.

According to the IRS the median household income in 2014 was $53,719 Which may not seem too bad but when said and done it truly is less than what we think, when you consider: - Taxes, debt, and interest rates - The rising cost of living, and decreasing value of the dollar (inflation) - Time it takes to make $50,000 Let’s use some whole numbers. 50K turns into 35K after taxes, and with a modest 1K/month mortgage (12K) brings your 50K salary down to

23K. At this point you’re down to not even 2K a month for other expenses on top of lifestyle.

Once you learn these numbers, it’s hard to deny there isn’t something wrong with the system.

Why is it people work most of their lives and still barely get by? This is an issue I look at to help those who are willing to learn how to thrive in this skewed game called life. Starting with getting a handle on your finances.

While #WOAS is constantly building, my team and I look to technology, such as online webinars, courses, and curriculums, to level the playing field and help educate locally and abroad. Along with at home and in office meetings to help provide solutions for your financial needs.

K EY TA K E AWAY

Starting Pile of Cash

$50,000 Subtract Taxes

$35,000

subtract 1k/month mortgage

$23,000

divide across 12 months

$1,916

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The American monetary system made me feel hopeless.

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O N THE J OU RNEY TO S UCCE S S It’s funny how sometimes we think we have it all figured out and then we wake up one morning and realize we may be lost in an illusion.

The world is so fast paced and constantly changing. I’m not talking about the world’s development in general through media or technology. But our personal worldview. Our environment, social environment, and mental environment. Everything that makes up our essence, our worldview.

I felt iffy including this section in the article because it would make me vulnerable, but I’ve realized that allowing yourself to be vulnerable is the key or at least the first step to getting out of a rut and overcoming setbacks. Ryan Holiday talks about this in his book called The Obstacle is the Way. This may sound similar to an alcoholic admitting they have a problem in order to get better or to get help and it’s true. The key is to know when you are in a rut, identify what got you there, then decide you are not going to settle for that low level of your life. I call it “the day that turns your life around,” which usually happens through the form of desperate determination, the “I have no other choice” mentality. And the disgust “I refuse to put up with this anymore” mentality that makes you begin the process of revolutionizing your life.

Once you go through this experience and accept your desire to change, the process begins.

Not to mention I bet I am not alone in this stage of life.

I believe everyone is going through “something”.

Something troubling, a hard decision, a difficult pivot in their life, needing some encouragement from someone who is going through that path right now, let me tell you how I feel.

Life is so complex and constantly changing that there is always some point in life feeling an impact.

Although I am typically a reserved person, I have developed outgoing and energetic characteristics.

This has resulted in an extensive network and abundance of nightlife and entertainment which I let get out of hand. I cannot remember the last weekend where I didn’t pop bottles of champagne or vodka with friends and business partners. A few weeks of it was a great time and great memories, but after months of doing it two to three times a week and not getting home till 5am, waking up at noon, missing deadlines for my work, and postponing meetings I knew things were getting out of hand. I was kidding myself to think I could live the best of both worlds and by pursuing balance I was completely out of balance on all sides.

But here’s what I learned: It’s not about perfection, it’s not even about balance. I will be the first to admit, I used to preach about “life balance” but over time I have realized this is a fairytale myth. I divide my overall life into the following categories: health/fitness, finance, business/career, recreational, relationships, personal/interests, contribution. Through these categories, depending on your current phase in life you will prioritize one of these more than the others and the list of priorities is constantly shuffling.

It’s about learning from the process.

I struggled deeply with trying to balance a lifestyle of the wild, rich, and famous and suffered in my personal friendships/relationships, health and fitness, and mental health.

“It was a year of thinking I had it all figured out just to wake up one morning and realize I was lost.”

I don’t want this article to glorify me, I don’t want to sound like I’m perfect or have it all figured out. Everyday, every month, every year

is a learning process for me and it’s rewarding and blissful at times; it’s painful and scary at other times.

With that said…. I’m sure others can relate to being a workaholic and having ambitious expectations for themselves, which is not a bad thing. It’s important to have high standards for yourself and be disciplined. But at times it can be too much. While I believe it’s important to have high standards, it’s also important to cut yourself slack and ease up when you need it most.

If you spend your whole life with your head down trying to work on something because you feel unaccomplished without it, then I fear we may wake up someday near the end of our life and

realize we never really enjoyed the things making life worth living. It's a grey area separating hard work from enjoyment, being hard on yourself and feeling guilty for having fun. If you are being hard on yourself. Join the club. Join the community of #WOAS. As I mentioned before, I do not believe there is a "perfect balance," only an ongoing journey.

Albert Tristan owns #WOAS and has been working with a brand called Forever Motivated in Fort Worth, Texas. He and I met at church back in 2005, when my family moved back from the Middle East.

Seeing him grow to where he is today has been absolutely incredible to watch.

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MACKENZIE PUTICI

NEW WORLD WINE TOURS It all began as an idea sparked from a friend’s vacation to Paris where she took a wine tour to Champagne, France. She was convinced my wine expertise, extensive travel experience, and skill with foreign languages would be the perfect match for visitors to Toronto looking for day trips to wine country, specifically in Spanish or French.

This was the spark that eventually became the fire to fuel my company.

Naming a new concept or business is tough. Coming from a theatrical and artistic background, I actually wanted a more interesting name like ‘Bacchus’ the Greek god of wine and madness to represent the company. However in this day and age things like SEO and keyword searching is so important, and despite a lean towards being generic, it may pay off to incorporate what you are selling into your name.

Photos by: Justin McAfee and Mackenzie Putici

For this reason I ended up with the more obvious New World Wine Tours, the new world being Canada, and the rest of North America in terms of wine production.

Once I had established a name, I needed a website, a logo, a business plan, and social media presence. I worked for about 4 months when I wasn’t at my regular job waitering at a high-end restaurant in the

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financial district of Toronto just to establish this idea and get registered with the city.

Not only did I work, but so did my friends who I begged for favours building my website, designing my logo, and making promotional materials.

The wine trips also needed to be researched and tested, so friends acted as guinea pigs on the first outings.

After four months I ‘looked’ like a business, but I needed to get found. This is when I looked to big tourism websites like TripAdvisor and tourism

boards to spread the word that New World Wine Tours was open for business. The first summer was a lot of experimenting with wineries and building relationships with what I considered the best ones. Friends and family were generally my first clients, but I did wrangle down a handful of tours that year. It was a slow start, but I was getting great feedback. Feedback about pricing, quality, pacing, what to add, what to remove in terms of information or programming on tours. All fuel to keep on working.

I was listed on big websites, but without many reviews to reflect the quality of my services, there were few bookings. I decided I needed local referrals to build the quality of the brand. So, I reached out to hotel concierges and took them on tours, at no cost, as a way to earn their trust. Concierges are very kind, but also used to getting free dinners, show tickets, and gifts from businesses hoping that they will send guests their way.

I have found that appealing to them on a human level, making them a friend, and not trying

I have found that appealing to consierges on a human level, making them a friend, and not trying to talk business too much, is a far more effective way to win affection. to talk business too much, is a far more effective way to win affection.

March of the second year, I had the opportunity to partner with Airbnb Experiences; a new branch of their brand dedicated to local tourism.

They not only accepted my wine tours but also a sake tour and a Pastry Crawl which I submitted to them as ideas.

At the launch, I held 2 of the 10 experiences in Toronto, and the 3rd was delayed in its approval due to insurance reasons. My second summer

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was when the business really began to take shape. It was busy some weeks, and slow on others, but generally I was able to support myself and make similar earnings to what I made at the restaurant.

I was actually quite thankful for the slow times, as an entrepreneur you have to remember to enjoy yourself and take care of your personal relationships. However, the

downtime allows you to reflect and gather new ideas for bettering and expanding upon what you have previously built.

This is such precious time in reality, it is the time that will make you no money right now, but if managed well, will be the time that takes you from a parttime to a full-time business. It is at this point where you may want to quit your day job, it may just light that fire under your butt.

I am now in my third year and the business is growing beyond me. I have added two more food/drink tours to the portfolio, have two guides working with me, and I purchased a swanky SUV to take guests in for the tours.

I have had the chance to be featured in some magazines and blogs, such as Attitude Magazine, The Irish Daily Mail, and 'Where' Toronto. I also attended tourism and travel

Truly, it's a surprise who may be a valuable connection. Often the people you are most excited to meet let you down, and those who seem to be of little relevance to your business may come up to you with a great referral or idea.

events, and host a few press trips for media guests to Toronto. This was all done through a lot of networking and more emails and business card exchanges than I ever thought I would do in my life.

Truly, it’s a surprise who may be a valuable connection.

Often the people you are most excited to meet let you down, and those who seem to be of little relevance to your business may come up to you

with a great referral or idea.

It’s a grind, but if you don’t have money to spend on ads, you need to drum up business with your smile, your elevator pitch, and your charming emails and coffee dates.

If you really want people to remember you, you need to catch their attention. I realized I needed to find a way to make what I offered sound special.

This is also when I realized

I needed to define what I was truly offering. At first I thought I was offering tours.

However I now can tell you now, I offer local expertise, a curated taste of the best food, drinks, and wine around Toronto. When you only have a weekend to explore a city the size of Chicago, either you need to do your research very well, or you rely on New World Wine Tours to show you an amazing time.

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‘Experience’ is the buzzword in tourism and whenever I dream up a new tour, I craft an experience for our guests.

I think of how it will look, smell, taste, and what knowledge or memory they will leave with from the tour.

If I want them to experience sake for example, I want them to learn the history of sake in Japan with colorful stories about the discovery of the drink, a visual of how it is brewed, and experience what it would be like to be at a sake bar in Tokyo. I want them to have that ah-ha moment where they taste the difference between several types of sake. Perhaps I can add in food to illustrate how sake pairs with Japanese, or even western dishes. Heck, why not throw in a drinking game? As these thoughts unfold in my mind, I go along for the journey, dwelling on the unique details, and emotions that may come with each aspect of the experience.

I feel like I am on my own tour. I think this experience is worth selling. I like to act fast, I get excited and bored quite quickly. It is a valuable tool to capture one's own excitement and use it to convince customers, partners, or investors of the new idea.

to do next. I want the company to be regarded as a highendsampling of Toronto’s gastronomic culture and an expert of local wines. I must ensure my employees are incredible hosts, and possess all the knowledge of the neighbourhoods, the venues, and the dishes and drinks they are serving our guests. They need to be an expert just like me. Being an expert is half in knowing information such as wine-making, benchmark regions, how to taste, etc. and half in appearing to know things even when you may not. This boils down to confidence really, thinking on your feet. My staff may be expected to know things I know myself and other times they may have expertise beyond my own, which could lead to new tours, or grow the business. I am a big believer that if you don’t know how to do something, and it will take much more time or effort to learn it for yourself than the price of hiring someone for the task, then it is well-worth finding someone to delegate to. In a small business, it can be hard to balance the price of hiring out that expertise, but you eventually learn what your skills are and how best to allocate your time.

Now that I know what defines New World Wine Tours, and I have a decent distribution network, I must decide what

In two more years, I would like to see this company offering eight tours in the Toronto area, with five guides

(perhaps more). I hope to offer tour packages which combine our tours with accommodations and other attractions in the area.

This would open up more opportunity with travel agencies and tourism websites.

I am equally curious to test and eventually offer tours to other New World destinations such as the sparkling wine industry near Halifax, or use my linguistic abilities to offer trips to Spanish speaking countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Peru. It may take time, and there may be pitfalls, but as we say in theatre, you are only as good as your last show, and thus I must keep things fresh. A company that’s always changing and evolving protects itself from competition and stagnation.

As much as I have plans in mind, I never forget to be open to what is unplanned and spontaneous. I must steer the course of the company, but I am also along for the ride.

There is endless opportunity around us, and knowing when to take a chance on an opportunity is a skill only learned by taking the risk and seeing what happens.

MacKenzie Putici is the owner of New World Wine Tours residing in Toronto, Ontario. He and I met during one of my frequent trips to Toronto in 2017. You should ask him how we met the first time.

I'm such a wine snob.

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Mackenzie Putici walking a group through a professional method of wine tasting while appearing as the guest sommelier for the Marvonnay wine social. You can really see him f inessing the audience, you should ask him what his favorite wines are on his Instagram. newworldwinetours

If you want people to remember you, you really need to catch their attention.

I realized that I needed to find a way to make what I offered sound special.

This is also when I realized I needed to define what I was truly offering.

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CAMERON MILLS

FEELING COUNTRY JIT TERS

Music is an escape. Whenever you’re in tune, when you’re creating and making music, and especially when you’re performing, it’s like a lucid dream. It’s like reality but… elevated. You’re in control, but you kind of lose yourself in it. It gets me giddy. It puts dinosaurs in my basket and butterflies in my stomach.

Music creation and writing lyrics really came first for me out of heartbreak. I loved a girl. We dated for eight years.

When we split, it flipped my world upside down. I poured myself into my passion for singing; I always felt it was the best medicine. Guitar didn’t come naturally to me, so I neglected it. I finally pressed into practicing that six string.

I needed it. I began writing lyrics that took this negative emotion of mine and turned it into something I could control; something tangible, something beautiful, and something artistic. The music I made was something I owned. It was mine.

It made me feel like I once again had power over the way I felt in the midst of a difficult situation.

I was raised listening to artists like Marty Robbins, Travis Tritt, Styx, The Eagles, etc. I appreciate the musical base my family gave me. They got me started on the classics and inspired me to expand my music library. I’m continually venturing through genres to try and tasting as much as I can of the beautiful array of

Photos by: Justin McAfee

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music existing today. We are privileged to live in a time when all eras and genres of music exist simultaneously, and are accessible anytime, anywhere. I love everything from Highly Suspect to Liquid Stranger; from Pavarotti to J Cole. But it was the Texas Country artists I felt I could most relate to. Guys like Roger Creager, Josh Abbott, Randy Rogers, Pat Green, the list pours on, but they’re the ones who influence my music the most. The music I create is mostly singer-songwriter, Texas Country. I’m a huge Louis Lamour fan, largely because of the imagery he uses in his novels.

I love the idea of verbally painting a picture in the mind’s eye. I try to do that with my songs. The lyrics are centered around love and loss, places I’ve been, things I’ve seen. It’s all real. Lots of tear in your beer kind of stuff with a dash of self

empowerment and drinking songs.

The songs aren’t flashy and perfectly polished. There’s no autotune, loop pedals, synth leads, or flouride lyrics. I wanted my songs to be vulnerable and relatable. It’s raw, me and a guitar.

This past year, music for me has been about having fun.

I love it when folks sing along and dance with their partners while I’m performing.

For me, having folks take to the dancefloor during a set is the highest compliment I can receive. For a while I allowed music to become a chore. I stressed over image.

I overanalyzed how every audience member might be receiving me. I worried whether or not I was worth the compensation a venue was paying me.

I decided it was time to get back to basics. I started to spend more time playing with friends, at the pool, making

up the words as we go along; all of those playful aspects of performance are what sparked my love for it in the first place.

Putting more energy into those beautiful facets of performance gets me out of the self made pressures inside my own head.

It helps me remember how playing and singing allow me to express an array of emotions we’re all confronted with every day. I’m definitely an expressive performer. I let the words I sing get all over me. During upbeat jams I’ll beam with excitement with this huge goofy grin of mine. I’m not scared to growl a little like Garth does, or stretch the peak of a high note like Cody Johnson. I can feel the emotion well up in my chest when I sing the sad ones. Tyler Childers is one of my favorite artists right now. His voice is powerful and big. He doesn’t shy away from blasting those high notes from his diaphragm

Music helps me remember how playing and singing allow me to express an array of emotions we're all confronted with every day. I'm definitely an expressive performer.

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2019 “Jarrod Collins and I host our own open mic night every Tuesday at Varsity Tavern in Fort Worth”.

This is where you can see Cameron Mills playing every week in the DFW area.

and sighing through those valleys in his sad songs. I love performing his music; I think the power and texture in my voice emulates his pretty well. We’ve both got a splash of gravel, we love to accentuate the minor notes and attack the highs.

My cousin, Elizabeth Wills, is an amazing mentor. She taught me that people enjoy music that makes them feel what a performer is feeling. I think

I have a gift for conveying honest emotion and bringing that feeling to listeners.

While performing live music can be a ton of fun, it certainly comes with challenges and gut checks. After riding a 6 month wave of solid performances, I had a huge dose of humility at my first song swap. I was performing in the Fort Worth Stockyards at a bar called

Filthy McNasty’s (much cleaner than the name might lead you to believe). One of the two other performers was a well known Fort Worth artist, Skylar Payne. He and the other musician I shared the stage with had serious chops. They had harmonies for each other’s endless array of original songs. Their melodies effortlessly poured from their bodies. Their fingers

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I had my 3-ring binder of four chord songs i'd recently memorized, and a handful of originals. I walked out there feeling like a two foot tall rhyhmically challenged raccoon.

stripped the guitar strings of all apprehension and glided through leads and rhythm sections flawlessly. Then there was me. I had my 3-ring binder of 4 chord songs I’d recently memorized, and a handful of originals. I walked out of there feeling like a two foot tall, rhythmically-challenged raccoon. I questioned whether I even belonged on a stage.

After a few days of self pity and anxiety, I picked myself up (I have a song titled “Pick Myself UP”). I decided I would focus on enjoying all the lessons and challenges that come with personal growth.

I kept cutting my teeth at open mic nights, festivals, and was fortunate to land a 6 month residency at the Fort Worth Boat Club. The residency was a huge morale boost for me.

To have an establishment enjoy my stuff enough to have me back every month for 6 months helped solidify in my mind that I am a quality performer and I can do this! Now, I’m hustling to fill the books for the rest of 2018. I’ve become addicted to the ongoing opportunity to network and audition. Working to land a gig is just like sales.

Every “no” you hear brings you one step closer to your “yes”. One recent “yes” I was really excited to participate in was an artist showcase series in the Magnolia District of Fort Worth in October.

My performance pursuit is all about becoming a better artist, a better guitarist, a better singer.

Art works both ways. It’s open to interpretation from both the artist and the viewer/listener.

Before I really pressed into the live music scene about two years ago, I always felt a bitterness and jealousy when watching other artists perform.

I’d think to myself “I can do better”. I’d criticize the performer in my head. The reality was I simply was envious of anyone who chose to pursue their passion, while I allowed mine to lay idle. I’m thankful for the live music scene here in Fort Worth. It has provided me an environment where I feel confident and challenged to pursue my passion and grow into the artist I want to be. I want to be an every day guy who has a uniquely powerful voice and solid technique on the six string. I want to create music helping folks see the paradox of beauty existing within pain.

I want to write honest lyrics empowering people to overcome adversity, or simply allow them to take a step back and enjoy a musical escape (usually to Fort Worth, Texas :). I want them to know they are not alone.

In the coming months, I will be creating more music and bringing more people into the fray. I’m working with a friend of mine, Jarrod Collins, on some fun projects. He’s an amazing guitarist and he’s making me a better guitarist. Miss Jordan Sizemore, she and I have been spending more time playing together. She is an amazing vocalist and a talented guitarist

(and it doesn’t hurt that she’s cute as a bug). Having people in my life who care about me and the music I play and want to support me and collaborate with me is such a blessing. We are always performing around Fort Worth, but booking some studio time to cut my first album is my next big step. In the meantime, folks can find me on Facebook at “Cameron Mills” and “Cameron Mills Music”. We are always posting videos of performances, jam sessions, artist interviews, etc. Y’all should definitely check it out!

A deeply seeded love for music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Since I was old enough to speak, I’ve been performing for people. Out of that love has come a beautiful driving force of positive change for me. Performing, practicing, and writing is making me a more self-aware, self-confident person. I’m excited for the ups and downs I’ve had the privilege of experiencing and I’m hungry to learn and do more!

Cameron Mills and I went to the same high school in Fort Worth, Texas. The crazy thing is, in high school he was a part of the worship team, and the rest is history!

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Not Today

Self-Discover y

“When they say you can’t, they show you their limits, not yours.”

- Kevin Keenoo, Motivational Speaker

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Melody Alice

MELODY DUSASTRE

FINANCE YOUR FREEDOM I grew up watching everyone around me follow the wellbeaten path. From highschool to university, and then straight to work. Usually back to university for an MBA or a different Master's, and then back to work. Fast-forward a few years: marriage, kids, settling down, etc. Pencil in a few 10 day trips along the way.

So, naturally, when I graduated from university right on time, this is exactly the path people around me expected and hoped to see me follow.

Every interaction with friends and acquaintances went something like this: “Welcome to the real world! What are you doing now? Have you found a job yet? Where are you living?”

These are my favourite kinds of people.

My answer? “I’m actually going to be travelling for the next six months!”

“Well, I’ve got some money saved up, but I’ll also be freelancing throughout the entire trip.”

Cue the reactions. I saw everything from disbelief and confusion, to annoyance and even jealousy cross peoples faces. A few faces expressed joy, excitement, and approval.

These faces were followed by the infamous: “But how are you going to afford that?!”

I then explain myself. Yes, I can work remotely from my laptop anywhere on earth. No I don’t go into an office everyday.

They pay me electronically.

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We communicate by phone, text, email, and Skype. I do copywriting, editing, translation, website design, graphic design, and whatever else the client needs of me.

The usual response to this was, “Well, okay, that’s good, but you can’t do that forever.

One day you’re going to have to get a real job.”

Wrong. Not only is freelancing a “real job,” but it’s one you can make a substantial living from.

Now let me start off by acknowledging my privilege.

I come from a well-off family.

I went to good schools and a great university, where my parents covered my tuition, rent, and most of my expenses.

Because of this, I was able to work amazing (though painfully underpaid) internships every summer for the last 4 years.

I have now graduated, with distinction, and without debt.

This gives me a huge headstart. I have savings that allow me to give it 100% right away rather than slowly ramping up on the side. I don’t need to work full-time behind a bar trying to cover my rent while

simultaneously paying off student loans.

How did I get started? It’s a pretty good story. When I was 18 years old, I landed my first internship for a beauty startup.

We worked out of a shared co-working space in Toronto’s bustling Fashion District.

There, I was exposed to a variety of early-stage companies with a lot of vision and heart.

I became fast-friends with one of the other startups’ CEO’s, and when September came around and I went back to school, he became my first client.

I maximize time that most people waste, which gives me ample free time to do the things I love.

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I was writing the occasional blog post for his website and editing the occasional pitches. I was inexperienced and I charged him the bare minimum, but I was grateful for the opportunity.

Fast forward 3 years later and I still work for him. I’ve increased my rates to reflect my higher skill level and higher education. The loyalty and value I’ve brought to his company made him more than happy to renegotiate. I now make $500$2,000 a month off this one client alone for 3-5 hours of work a week.

Line up a few clients, negotiate some great rates by showing them the value of your work, and you’ll be making six figures for way less than 40 hours of work a week.

Plus, you can work on your time, from wherever you want. I’ve never been a morning person, so I do the bulk of my work late at night. I love to travel, so I do

Society is so quick to tell us no. Do it our way. Follow standard protocol.

Work. Consume.

Waste. Repeat.

There is no time for dreaming here.

work in long car rides and in airplanes. I maximize time that most people waste, which gives me ample free time to do the things I love.

The flexibility of this working style allows me to live out a life most people only dream of. I travel the world while still making money and saving up to start a family. I chose to make this dream a reality.

Of course, it isn’t always easy.

I recently spent 2 weeks on Kaua’i, a tiny island in the middle of the pacific ocean.

There were days where I was literally chasing WiFi, going from coffee shop to coffee shop only to be disappointed. I spent 3 days in the mountains without signal (with the exception of amazing signal found at the end of a 4 hour uphill hike, but that wasn’t too useful). In the end, I made a lot less money, experienced some high-stress moments, and had to make up for it by working twice as much the following week.

But was it worth it? 100%. I got to immerse myself in one of the most beautiful and lush places

on earth while still maintaining a job that I love.

Society is so quick to tell us no.

Do it our way. Follow standard protocol. Work. Consume.

Waste. Repeat. There is no time for dreaming here.

This mentality is so wrong.

It’s unhealthy and unrealistic.

It doesn’t breed happiness; it stifles creativity. People wonder why depression is at an all-time high, but when you look at expectations, it isn’t hard to believe.

I guess what I’m getting at is that when you find your passion - follow it. No matter

what expectations mandate of you. It may not come easily or quickly - this is fine. Just don’t lose track of it along the way.

Whether your dream is to open a coffee shop, to change the current education system, to improve women’s rights, or just to make enough money to not have to worry - it is possible.

for it. Take action. Start now.

Procrastination is a killer.

3) Compassion - if you can put yourself in someone’s shoes, you’ll be able to sell them anything. Understand how you can make a person’s life easier or better. Once you’ve got that angle, you’re in.

Happy dreaming.

Here are some key ingredients: 1) Confidence - no one is going to believe in you unless you do.

Believe in your vision. Positive energy is a powerful thing.

2) Drive - your dream will not come to life unless you work

Melo and I met while I was working in Toronto. Her specialty is in social communication and is currently a freelance writer traveling the globe. Hearing some of the stories from her travels makes you think about a traditional 9 to 5 job.

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johndarwin.price

JD PRICE

FOR THE SAKE OF RACING Many, if not most, racers come from some level of family heritage in racing. Most Formula 1 drivers begin in go-karts at extremely young ages, and are supported by their families throughout the process. When your teacher in pre-school tells you “you can be anything you want to be,” they don’t tell you that the chances of being a F1 driver are about as good as becoming an astronaut.

Not only that, but your chances have most likely already passed.

So, how can someone still find their drive for racing, knowing they will never make it into a toptier racing series? Everything is about perspective.

Photos by: JD Price

I grew up in a town of roughly 50,000 people in Texas. I came from what most would consider an upper-middle class family, with old-world values of how to raise a child. Many would consider this a blessing, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the blessing I have been given. 85% of people have had it much worse than I do, and it’s the ability to recognize this which separates the elitists from the realists. But how does any of that have to do with racing?

I didn’t discover my love of the automobile until I was already a teenager – around the age of 14. At this age, I was still naïve,

precocious, and unfamiliar with the realities of the world. When I got to this age, I was a year away from getting my learner’s permit – something that represented more of an opportunity for independence than it did an opportunity to master what would later become my most treasured skills. At the age of 16, I was lucky enough to be granted my first (and still my only) car – a 2001 BMW 3-Series. I spent countless days searching used car sites online for what met my criteria for the perfect car: manual, rear-drive, and enough power to get myself into some trouble. I successfully convinced

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my parents to go look at it, and (thanks mostly to my mother), we purchased it the same day.

This would be the vehicle that would give me the capacity to race, although a couple years would pass until I would be allowed to attempt such a “dangerous” activity. But first, I fell in love.

Every waking moment from the age of 16 onwards would be spent thinking about cars and driving. My father didn’t appreciate this much, I went through tires about as fast as most people do oil changes.

Still, this didn’t stop me. Every weekend, I would drive out to the country roads near my house and spend hour after hour in search of the road with perfect curves and an ideal balance of straights and corners. I didn’t factor in the potential risk perhaps as much as I should have in doing this – I frequently found myself in situations that put me a few inches from completely destroying my car – which would have been the end of my parent’s trust and with that would come the end of having the freedom to go out and simply drive to my heart’s content. In my mind, it was the only way to live. I wasn’t allowed to attend track days or to pursue racing in any way further than going to the local (it was 1.5 hours away, so maybe my definition of local

needs some work) go-kart track to spend all my money on their rental go-karts. That was until I started looking at colleges.

I was strongly encouraged to pursue an engineering degree and being as fascinated by cars as I was, I knew that a degree in Mechanical Engineering would be where I could learn more. At the University of Texas at Arlington there was a program called Formula SAE run by a professor by the name of Dr. Bob Woods. My father scheduled a tour of the Formula SAE shop with him, and that was where I would later spend the majority of my college career. Dr. Woods noted my love of racing and suggested I begin autocrossing to build my skills (and my credibility).

This was the kickstart that my racing career needed. My parents finally acquiesced and I began participating in Sports Car Club Of America (SCCA) Solo Autocross events. More importantly, I was doing well at it. My experience just from driving on bumpy and crowned country roads was really paying off. I had no prior racing experience of any kind before I started so I attended an autocross school the day before my first event, hosted by the SCCA. It was rather informal, with about 20 instructors for roughly 50 drivers. My instructors were a husband/ wife team, Terry and Amy Fair. They were extremely

experienced racers that owned and operated a company called Vorshlag Performance - a shop specializing in custom racecar builds as well as V8 engine swaps for BMWs. I first went out on track with Terry after a short ground school that explained the rules of autocross.

Terry immediately commented on my car control ability, noting that it seemed like I’d been doing performance driving for a while - but I could be getting much closer to the cones (this is key in autocross, if you’re 6 inches off a cone, you’ve just lost about a tenth of a second). Terry jumped in the driver’s seat, and showed me what to do. It’s a very different experience when you’re not in control of the car - I was putting a lot of faith into the hands of a man I’d just met with my only method of transportation. Terry wasn’t phased. He drove my car like he knew every bolt and washer on it, apexing every corner perfectly, braking deep and getting on the power early.

He told me after the few laps he took that he used to race my exact car, so he had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

We went out for a few more laps, with me driving again, and he had very few comments about my driving. Following that, Amy traded off with Terry and became my instructor for my last few laps. She made very few comments, only noting my tendency to turn into the

corner a tad bit too early in some cases. After we finished my last lap, we had a short debriefing session, where we talked about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. Then she (perhaps too much) really boosted my ego, suggesting that I’d be a national championship contender within a couple years. That’s some pretty direct foreshadowing.

I had made some minor modifications to my car which put it in a very competitive class at SCCA – but the one thing I didn’t have were proper tires for autocrossing. This put me at an extreme disadvantage.

Anyone that understands how racing works know that the most important system of the vehicle is its tires, followed by the suspension (and setup; i.e., alignment, tire pressures, etc.).

Despite this, I was still fast.

I love the races when it would rain, which tends to eliminate the advantages of performance tires to a degree. That’s when I would get my podium finishes regularly and also when I began to realize just how special the skill I had. I spent two or three seasons doing this before I joined the most important organization in my life up to this point.

650 universities worldwide have a Formula SAE team.

When I joined UTA Racing, they were ranked in the top 10 worldwide and first in the US. This is where my ability to engineer ideas and race would culminate into something larger than I ever would have imagined. I instantly found my love for suspension design and vehicle dynamics, which

is something UTA’s race team excels at. I read more literature on racing vehicle design, suspension setup, on-track tuning, and vehicle performance than I even knew existed. This turned out to be the most important learning experience of my life up to now. The team also had some seriously quick drivers, which gave me my goal of becoming their top-driver.

The cars we built weighed roughly 450 pounds, used motorcycle engines making between 80-90 horsepower, and had some seriously massive wings attached to them. They could pull well over 1G of lateral acceleration in slow corners, and up to 2.5G’s in fast bends. They are seriously fast cars, specifically designed for autocross. In the average sized slalom, you clear each cone in under .8 seconds. You

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The idea of something going wrong, or screwing up and destroying the car never crossed my mind, even when i would come incredibly close to doing so. could pull nearly 2G’s of braking into corners. These cars showed me what real speed felt like.

I quickly managed to get myself into the driver training program, competing against other potential drivers for a spot to drive for the team in competition. We would perform different maneuvers, taking times and writing reports. To even get the chance to drive, you first had to become a full team member – spending all of your free time working on the car, all while taking fulltime classes, working jobs, etc. We devoted ourselves to the development of our skills and our car, all in the name of reducing lap times and increasing the potential to score points in competition. Things happened fast. We did all of our own designs – built our own carbon wheels, welded our chassis, manufactured our carbon wings and floor, tuned the engine and built our own

intake and exhaust, re-valved mountain bike dampers to match our desired damping ratios – the list is endless.

These cars were our entire college experience (except for the short periods of time where I indulged in fraternity activities) and often times got us jobs immediately out of college. We were a very fortunate race team. We had facilities most other teams could only dream of; we had a ~2000 square foot shop, completely separate to our design lab which housed about ten powerful computers. In addition to all this, we had our own showroom to house our cars, as well as a composite manufacturing lab (with a massive 3D printer) with its own autoclave and tons of donated material. But back to the racing – we worked hard in order to have the privilege to drive the cars. The competition to become a driver was stout, many had prior racing experience of some kind, and you had to learn quick. Lucky for me, I have a strange talent of learning cars quickly, and I’ve never been afraid to push the limits in a car. The idea of something going wrong, or screwing up and destroying the car never crossed my mind, even when I would come incredibly close to doing so. The first car I got to drive was our 2003 car.

It had immense power, low weight, and the worst tires I’ve ever driven on. This made

it into a hell of a car to drive fast. I got my first chance to really prove my skills at our Fall Autocross event, where we would host several other teams for a weekend of racing. I had never driven the car in anger and I attacked the lap. First lap: spun the car. I got on the throttle hard coming out of a hairpin and wasn’t expecting the violent onslaught of acceleration that followed. The second lap, I took it slightly easier, focusing on throttle control and just putting together a clean lap.

The time came up: I was the fastest in that car up to that point (which all the other rookie drivers had been using that day).

From that point forward, I moved up the ranks within UTA racing, in terms of both driving and engineering. In the realm of engineering, I became a suspension deputy working under the supervision of one of the older members. He showed me the ropes of basic vehicle dynamics before I went off on my own, learning all I could from as many references as I could possibly find. I’ve developed a theory that the fastest drivers have a much deeper understanding of vehicle dynamics than most other drivers and the more drivers I meet, the more this theory is reinforced. Given this, my understanding of how to both develop and drive our

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racecars flourished. Our 2016 car became my absolute favorite – it was our most powerful car to date (and still is, coincidentally) and handled in a way that just really suits my driving style. It’s a very positive-handling car; you can load the front end heavily, trailbraking (basically, turning and braking at the same time.

Google it.) into the corners, and the back just is sort of there until you throw all the

roughly 1320 entrants racing in the event at Lincoln Air Park in Nebraska. The reason that everyone is willing to sacrifice their precious time to come to this event is simple - it’s one of the best surfaces to autocross on in the world. It has more grip than any other surface I’ve been on (at least for cold to luke-warm tires).

Our competition there was primarily the Jayhawks from the University of Kansas - they are

safety inspections and then the second and third day are spent racing. The second day, we ran on the west course - a high speed (for a Formula SAE) course with several chicanes, and plenty of opportunities to make mistakes (especially considering how big of a factor the wind was that day - there was a 15 mph wind with 25 mph gusts, which is a real problem in our car). My codriver, Garrett, took the first

throttle you can at the car, at which point the rear end just squats and shoots you out of the corner at a seriously fast pace. In the fall of 2017, I got my chance to really exploit the speed of the 2016 car.

a very competitive Formula SAE team, earning several top finishes in the last few years.

Additionally, my co-driver for the 2016 car was a very accomplished go-kart driver that I’d been training for the last year (and sharing my secrets with). The way the event works is simple: there are two tracks, an East and a West. The first day is spent doing the necessary technical inspections and

run in the car - we always send the less experienced driver out first to get a feel for the track and to relay information about it to the second driver.

He automatically set the fastest time on the track up to that point, which wasn’t surprising. If a well-tuned Corvette can set a 60 second lap on a given course, we’re 10 seconds faster. I went out for my first run and immediately went to the top of the charts.

SCCA Solo Nationals is the largest (by number of entrants) racing event in the world.

People take off a full week from work to take 6 total laps.

That’s dedication. There were

The drivers from Kansas were having difficulties so my worries subsided for the time being. Until Garrett went for his second run and beat my first run by over a second. I knew I had to dig deeper, trust myself and trust the car, and push it. On my second run, I managed to send it pretty well and set a time slightly over two tenths of a second faster than Garrett. Now it was role-reversal and Garrett went out determined to beat me on his final run. Lucky for me, he made a mistake and ran off-course, which earned him a DNF for his last run.

That relieved all my stress and my last lap was just a victory lap at that point - the Kansas team was running consistently a second slower than us, so I just had some fun on the last lap. The second day on the east course was a different story. Garrett had it figured out. I had to maintain at least a .2 second advantage to take the win for the event, which didn’t provide me with much comfort. His first time out was extremely quick - and half a second faster than mine. His second lap had a mistake so I was able to take the lead back on my second run. Then the fun started. Garrett, on his final run, properly sent it and simultaneously put me in a situation I’m not used to being in. He found almost a full second on a track that I was already pushing my limits on. I

had to come within two tenths to take the win. Nothing else was on my mind as I pulled up to the start line. The starter waved the green flag, I revved the engine and dropped the clutch. I went deeper into each corner than I ever had, I extracted more grip out of the tires than I thought I ever could and crossed the finish line. The time came up - I was less than 3 thousandths of a second slower. I had won the event. The times from the two courses are combined to your final time, and I had taken first by .201 seconds. It was the most invigorating racing experience I’ve had up to now and something I’ll always remember as one of my greatest racing achievements to date.

I went through my time on the team continuing to advance within it, eventually becoming the Team Captain in my second year, and then moving to a more technical role of Suspension Lead in my final year. The Team Captain role suited me well, but it’s a position requiring constant attention and a deep understanding of how to control and direct the team.

I more enjoyed my final year on the team where I still had the seniority I’d earned from my position as Team Captain, but could focus more on the development of the dynamics of the car as the Suspension Lead. Our 2018 car was my final car and we took it to our

first international competition in years - Silverstone Racing Circuit in the UK. Out of over 80 cars, my driving put us in fourth place for autocross, and fifth place for endurance.

Results I’m certainly proud of, considering the only teams faster than us had either 2000 kilometers more testing and practice or a budget 10X our size. To have been that fast with minimal tools (We had to air-freight the car there, and we could only afford the most vital tools), the entire team was extremely happy with the results achieved.

So, moving forward from here, I’m searching for my next racing endeavor. I know I can’t stop at Formula SAE – I’ll never be happy if I quit racing now.

Racing requires sacrifices and I know there’s plenty of sacrifices to be made if I continue with the sport. But these don’t cross my mind as problems, only as necessary actions to keep me in the seat, and to keep me racing, if only for the sake of racing.

J.D. Price and I are friends from college, when we attended UTA in Arlington, TX. He joined Kappa Alpha Order during the time I became President of the chapter.

From there we have bickered constantly about which cars are better.

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I WANT A PRESIDENT Zoe Leonard 1992

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Kacie Elkins Book on Amazon kacieelk kacieelkinsauthor

KACIE ELKINS NOT TODAY

Everyone has a story. Every single person has a tragic past and an unknown future. We all start out as a single cell, yet somehow evolve into these multifaceted and intelligent creatures with a complex for emotional baggage. We all carry it around in different ways. Some tattoo it all over their body, while others bury it beneath a carefully crafted facade. Personally, over many years I have been stacking my baggage like a vertical book collection. Instead I used all those things that make me different to lift myself higher. I stand on a mountain of trodden relationships, massive depressive episodes, and crushing anxiety all to tell you with a beaming grin, the view from the top is much better than anything I could have ever dreamed. Loving yourself is the most difficult and rewarding

relationship you can cultivate in this life. This is how I went from dragging around piles of everyone else’s expectations to conquering the demons in my closet. How I literally used fear and heartache to propel myself to the other side of the planet. Meeting new faces, falling in love with distant places, and witnessing sunrises so beautiful you wonder how darkness could exist in a world that can hold incredible wonder.

Photos by: Travis Massengill | The Roan Gallery

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Let’s rewind for a moment. My name is Kacie and I am a lesbian. Fortunately, this isn’t the most interesting thing about me, yet it is the one facet of my character that people often choose to see me through. That has made life difficult at times, to say the least, especially when that word—gay—is attached to so many

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preconceived notions. Growing up in the South of the United State and in a Baptist church, discovering you were attracted to the same sex was utterly devastating. Thankfully, the world has progressed greatly in the past 8 years since I came out. Still for some, maybe even someone reading this, being gay is the scariest thing they can possibly imagine. In 2010 it was my greatest fear, come to life. The monster I had buried under my bed for my teenage years had finally come roaring into the light. I awoke a few months into my first year of college and discovered a feeling I had always dreamed of.

All of those movies and songs suddenly clicked into place, and I wanted to spend every second of the day with a beautiful amazing person. The most confusing and terrifying aspect of this intense love and attraction was… this person happened to be a girl. The next few months of being in denial looked like a slow motion reel of falling into depression, not eating healthy, and drinking far too much to suppress what I already knew. Despite putting my digestive and nervous system through a gamut of stress, I was still in love with someone and I was so tired of running from something that seemed to be rooted in love! So I did the bravest thing I’ve ever done—I came out of the closet. Deciding for the first time in my life, to define the world on my terms, rather than hide in the shadow of what I had always known.

Slowly I began to truly accept myself. Turning the closet door handle softly and peeking my head into this unknown world. I whispered this secret to my closest friends. I remember it like walking around in a new skin. Until, finally throwing open that suffocating door and letting myself breath for the first time. I joined an LGBTQ support group at my university and found others like me, struggling to live their authentic selves. I spent the next year halfway in the closet and halfway out—running back in quickly whenever I was around my family. It was only after I entered into a committed relationship with someone I

I CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET. DECIDING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, TO DEFINE THE WORLD ON MY TERMS, RATHER THAN HIDE IN THE SHADOW OF WHAT I HAD ALWAYS KNOWN. loved that I finally decided to tell my parents.

Surrounding myself with supportive friends and growing more confident in my newly discovered realization. I knew my parents would not be happy. I had been taught growing up that homosexuality was a sin and living in sin was unacceptable. Still throughout my childhood they were the kindest, most involved and generous people I knew. I hoped the love we shared would carry us all through the uphill battle I knew was about to push us to our limits.

I had shown up on a Sunday after they returned from church. It was an unannounced surprise.

One that was accompanied by a haze of unease.

I brought with me a stack of books I would leave my parents, that would hopefully give them the answers they were searching for. The piece of paper I had typed out shook in my hands violently as my heart beat so loudly I thought the neighbors could hear it. Moments of silence passed until finally, those two words left my lips “I’m gay”. As they slowly billowed across the room and landed on my parents' ears, I asked all the gods in the universe to make this moment full of acceptance and not pain. Yet, in a single moment those hopes would shatter into a million pieces. I knew the moment my mother burst into tears, nothing in my life, or in my family, would ever be the same. They wouldn’t look at me and I could physically feel the silent, unbreakable love between my family crumble before all of our eyes.

An ominous rain cloud hung over all of us as I left the living room that had been filled with so much laughter only a week before. Somehow though, driving away that day, I felt more like the person they raised me to be more than ever before. The following week, it was my parents' turn to show up to my apartment. This time it was to tell me they were disgusted, embarrassed and angry with whom I had become. They could not and would not support me living this way.

They had lost all trust in me and would no longer support me going to school, refused to meet my partner, or acknowledge my sexual orientation. I was in total shock. I knew they weren’t happy about the situation. Still, I thought this level of rejection was only something that happened in movies, not in my life, and certainly not with my parents. Somehow, despite spending most of that afternoon in tears, I managed to stand my ground. This was my life, and I was in love for the first time. Nobody, not even the two people that gave me life, could take away the new truth I had found. If they didn’t want to be part of my life, they didn’t have to be.

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I look back now so many years later and wonder where I found the strength to tell my parents I would rather live my truth than be their child. I had been lucky enough to grow up in a western country, speak English, have an education and even have two adoring parents who I never thought would stop supporting me. I was horrible and devastatingly wrong. The moment of making that choice, to live my truth, was the scariest and loneliest time I had felt up until that point.

It wasn’t about right or wrong. They had their deep-rooted belief system and it was clashing with the burgeoning authenticity of their daughter, and neither of us backed down for a long time.

It took 5 years of us fighting tooth and nail to rebuild what was shattered in one day. The day I came out of the closet.

Today, my parents are my biggest supporters.

That is a sentence I never thought I could write.

Not only do they now accept and love me for exactly who I am, but throughout their journey with me they have commented their path to accepting my sexual orientation has made them more compassionate human beings. The day my father looked me in the eye and said my coming out was the greatest thing that ever happened to my family will forever be the thing I am most proud of. That never would have happened if I had not lived my truth.

Coming out of the closet solidified my lifetime commitment to loving myself and has taken me to the most beautiful of places, and gotten me through the darkest of days. Digging potatoes in the mountains of Japan, swimming with whale sharks in the Philippines, getting lost in Madrid, cuddling a koala in Australia, and snorkeling in the French Riviera are just some of the things I have been privileged to experience. The only reason I was able to get to these places is the same way I was able to come out of the closet. Looking fear straight in the eye and say, not today. Today, I will get on that plane, sprint out of that closet, leave my abusive spouse, run a marathon, and quit the

job I hate. I will talk about my addiction, I will let myself fall in love. I will pick up a paintbrush, finally go to the doctor, or do whatever it is in your life holding you back from your truth and bettering your life through authenticity. The first steps are the hardest, but you already know the direction you should start walking. It has been and always will be begging to burst forth and make your life every bit as meaningful as you allow. Fear is just your mind’s reaction to the unknown; be brave, for the unknown is what holds the most rewarding opportunities in this life.

I completely understand that these things are so much easier said than done, but the persistent pursuit of loving yourself gives you so much more strength and fulfillment in life than you cancomprehend. My sexual orientation and the struggles it has produced in this life are the greatest gift I ever received. It forced me to trust myself, has made me closer to every important person in my life and has even helped me express my passion: writing. I overcame another hurdle in 2017 and self- published my first collection of short stories about the wonderful LGBTQ+ community I have gotten to know over the past few years, called A Brighter Day. It allowed me to embrace another vulnerability in letting others read my work. I believe with all of my heart that it has been through the practice of facing my fears, in coming out, and traveling, I was able to expose a new part of my heart through these stories. I hope you are able to embrace whatever it is your greatest dreams are capable of achieving. Throw caution to the wind, don’t let fear hold you back and bellow at the top of your lungs, Not Today.

Kacie Elkin and I have a mutual friend, her brother Kyle Massengill is my fitness coach. He does this remotely from Texas where he plans out individualized workouts and helps me keep track of my calories with his online system. Kacie is a published author and is living in Australia with her girlfriend. The link to her book is the QR code at the beginning of the article.

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All About The Story

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The Chinese Italian Way

n Three 90 100

Ditch Fishing

Clear Vision In Cloudy Water

About th e Stor y

The challenge of life, I have found, is to build a resume that doesn't simply tell a story about what you want to be, but it's a story about who you want to be.

- Oprah Winfrey

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BRADLEY BRANSON

ALL ABOUT THE STORY One of the most significant things I have realized in my photography journey is simply this: you do not need to know enough, to be enough. You do not need the perfect camera.

You don’t need the biggest budget, the best light, or an exotic location. Because those, in themselves, do not command the story you tell.

They are the instruments we learn or use to tell our stories.

They do not define who you are, because you are still

Photos by: Bradley Branson

you, outside of those things.

And that is how we tell our stories, from what we know, from who we are.

My name is Bradley Branson, I am a portrait and conceptual photographer, and I began photography knowing nothing.

I didn’t have the best camera, or the biggest budget, or amazing locations, studios, or lights. But, what I did have, and what I believe each person has, is a story I wanted to tell.

As photographers, we talk about that word a lot. Story.

It’s always about the story.

The story of light. The story of pose. Of subject. This, I believe above anything else in photography, is the most important part of what we do, because it is the reason behind the lens, our stories. It is what drives us individually, because we all have one to tell, we all have narratives that belong to us because we are alive, narratives that we

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I will forever strive to create images that will not shy away from things or emotions that are difficult, but real.

create because we imagine.

This is what we draw from, our inspiration, of what we are and our background, and of what we envision beyond our reality, the imagined.

My passions, the stories I want to tell, come from my drive to communicate God in my art, through symbolic and surreal photography. It is through my relationship with Him and how I view my life as His road I’m on, my past,

my present, my future being nothing without Him, that I find my inspiration for idea after idea. I also portray the struggles I find in this life, on this road, and I find that to be a type of therapy for myself.

I will forever strive to create images that will not shy away from things or emotions that are difficult, but real. Because that is life, the wave upon wave of it, and that includes the hard times and dark days.

So, I communicate them.

Because these things are real and we experience it, and when I make that into something which is tangible, something we can see, then I have determined it as something to view and identify with, but then to move on from, to know it is not an end, but a middle, and to ultimately surrender such things to Christ who is the only way to a salvation from such things. This is my goal with my photography, my inspiration.

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things, in themselves, are very much what I continue to do, and what I plan on always doing, but as a career plan, they aren’t as specific as people would like, or as I found out, as specific as I needed them to be.

I created the image left in particular to show someone being rescued from darkness.

My first attempt of this photo was back in August of last year, and since then, the total has been about 5 tries. I was tempted to let the idea go throughout the months, but it weighed on my heart in a strange way.

I knew I needed to create it.

So, with each try, I went away knowing more than the last. I knew I wanted to use the colors black and white symbolically. I knew I couldn’t do it as a self portrait. And

then, I knew I couldn’t take the photo by myself. It just would not work that way. So, I asked my sister to pose with me, and I asked my friend to come along and take the photo, so I didn’t have to battle the self timer. And in the end, the experience was part of what made the photo so special to me. We could not only tell a story with the photo, but also to live it in the moment.

I have often wanted to say my dreams as a photographer are something like the following: to explore and to create, to discover and to share. These

I have had to do a lot of searching, both of myself and of the world of markets, to find exactly what I want to do with my photos, but a good first step in this process is to decide where you want your images to exist. Where do you want your photos to live and be seen by people.

As an example, I want my photos to live in galleries, on book covers, and album art.

But the great thing about this side of the photography business is it’s always up you and what you want it to be.

You can go anywhere and do anything with your photos.

Photography business, I have found, is something you decide for you, not something you serve.

Your story is worth telling.

There is no one else in the world who is able to tell your stories like you can, because there is no one else in the world exactly like you.

Bradley Branson is a surrealist photographer who captivates his audiences imaginations through his works. We met online through another blogger, and I wanted to showcase his work for you to see.

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KITTY HU

THE CHINESE ITALIAN WAY I feel deeply, which may or may not be a positive characteristic for an aspiring journalist. For someone behind the camera who works in more intimate settings, I find it advantageous.

Yet when I attempted to conduct my own reporting in Prato last July, I struggled to find the balance between feeling and reporting.

After studying in Italy for a while, I wanted to learn more about Chinese immigration to Italy, which was surprising to

Photos by: Kitty Hu

me considering the differences between the two cultures. I bought a one-way train ticket to Prato, a quiet suburban town north of Florence. Prato is home to the highest concentration of Chinese immigrants in Italy, almost all of whom reside alongside Via Pistoiese.

My first morning in Prato, I could not get out of bed. As excited as I was for my personal project, I had no reputable institution or publication supporting me and

no connection to the community.

All I knew about Prato’s Chinese diaspora came from previous articles, and there weren’t many.

Upon walking onto Via Pisoiese, I was greeted with familiar sights of grandmothers with groceries and customers bargaining. The street signs were in both Italian and Mandarin, some in solely Mandarin, but I was ready to ask questions in either language.

I received no answers that day.

People started questioning me.

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I wandered the same two streets multiple times throughout the day without having a single conversation that lasted longer than two minutes.

Others said that life is what it is and that they had no stories to share. Italians sometimes shielded their true answers from me because I physically appeared Asian whereas Chinese people found my inquiries suspicious and presence unwanted. I wandered the same two streets multiple times throughout the day without having a single conversation that lasted longer than two minutes.

The next day I woke up afraid.

I did not want to confront anyone again and was simply scared to.

Still, I had made it to Prato.

Despite limited knowledge and experience, here I was. I asked myself, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” I replied out loud, “Ask questions.”

So I went again.

I started by speaking to the Italian bakery owner right at the entrance to Chinatown. She was open to speaking about the history of the shop and how the environment has changed with the influx of Chinese immigrants. Before I left, she gave me a free piece of schiacciata, a local Tuscan bread.

To ask a single question and receive bread, what a turn of events!

That day, I spoke to a grandfather for three hours in his convenience shop. He told me about his first trip to Italy in the 1980’s and how he eventually earned enough to bring his wife and three sons.

His sons spoke Italian fluently, but he only knew enough to do business. His wife brought him a giant bowl of noodle soup and they ate lunch together while

discussing the upcoming tai chi class that afternoon. I also spoke to a recent university graduate who studied in Bologna, but was now working at a wedding planning shop, while searching for other work. I met a boy slightly younger than me stacking food at a grocery store, who later reached out to me about meeting his sister. Others my age talked about what it felt like to be second generation Chinese Italian.

I finally returned home after dinner. This time, elated. I spoke to actual human beings! People wanted to share and listen to why I was there and offer their experiences as knowledge. Some were even brave enough to have their photograph taken or interview recorded.

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The following day more conversations ensued. Subjects referred me to friends. Friends referred me to family. Soon enough, I found myself in a car full of people loudly singing to Chinese pop, rapidly talking in Italian, and on our way to Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, which offered a beautiful wholistic view of the city.

I could see all the streets. Lights twinkled in the distance as people turned in for the night and the hum of the motorcycles slowly grew to a periodic whisper. There, I spoke to Kira. Her brother, whom I had met in the grocery store the day before, excitedly introduced her to me. She misses China. Life in Italy is fun, but she

has so much more she wants to explore outside of the country.

Yet, she felt tied down to her work at a high-end fashion shop.

I think many of us can relate.

As meaningful as this experience in Prato was for me, it honestly did not advance my career much.

There is still much to be finished.

I spent a chunk of my own money and am still struggling to recoup financially. But part of that is the truth behind pursuing your dream.

It’s not going to be easy. You may feel alone at times. You may feel inadequate and unready. But when will you ever be truly ready? I’ve conducted many interviews by now and every time, I still have doubts. What if I ask the wrong question? How do I get the subject to speak up? Is this the best way to amplify their story?

As cliché as it was for me to sit on the couch in Prato and ask myself, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” that question applies to everyone. Why does the possibility of failure stop you? Let it drive you instead.

I learned to feel, and how to better connect with others through those feelings. Chinese immigration to Italy is by no means captured through my days in Prato, but my experience has given me a place to start. I desire to amplify such stories through visual journalism with both a humanistic and an objective approach. I report on real people and my work reflects that.

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KYLE HAMPTON DITCH FISHING The sun is rising over a mature live oak across the water. Gentle crashing of the stream against the rocks forms the background.

Chirping chickadees fill the foreground. A blue heron scans the calm water for an early meal.

As I close my eyes and lean into the escape, the sharp buzz of a cyclist builds from my left and quickly exits to my right. The neighbor’s dog barks at the cyclist, which starts a cacophony of yips and woofs, shaking off the morning’s dew. The bayou’s natural life isn’t alone in getting an early start. I unhook my fly

Photos by: Kyle Hampton

from a guide on the rod; it was immobilized on a guide, waiting for the next opportunity to fool an unwilling bass into biting.

An egret flies in to join the heron and me while we fish. I make a short cast into a seam where fast and slow water meet, beginning a slow retrieve to mimic a leech in search of a victim. Several casts later, a long-ear sunfish mistakes my fly for a leech—or fry or tadpole or bug or something edible—and it puts on the best fight a fiveounce fish can. I quickly pull it in, take a picture of the first

fish of the morning, and release it back into the murky waters.

The sun starts warming the water, and the water warms the bass. As the morning matures, my fly connects with more sunfish, a couple of bass, and a catfish.

“There’s actually fish in there?” ask a curious couple. They pause from their morning walk with their dog just behind me as I cast to the far bank toward a bass.

“Of course,” I respond. “There are bass and catfish and a few

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Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

- Henry David Thereau

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other fish. It isn’t much different than fishing on a bigger river or lake for bass.”

They give me a smile out of pity and watch as I cast. I could tell they wanted to see me catch a fish; I wanted to show them that I wasn’t just practicing my cast on their walking trail. Their patience wore thin over my next few casts; I was unable to hook a fish to prove to them that there were fish in the water.

The fishing slowed in the high heat, and I wrapped up fishing for the day as the temperature rose above 90⁰F. When I was just beginning to ditch fish, I felt the need to

prove to myself that there were fish in the water, in addition to proving to the passers-by of the fish’s presence. That has changed; I know the fish are there. Now, the fish toy with me and chose not to take my fly.

You can try to dress it up by calling it urban fishing or city fishing. If you do, you’re putting lipstick on a pig. It’s ditch fishing.

You’re slinging your fly toward some mutant hybrid fish in flood control infrastructure.

These hungry fish are slurping down flies in the muddy water while they swim amongst the concrete slabs, rebar, and bike frames. Most of the ditches we fish originated as natural

creeks, cutting through the swamps and dividing the areas into microbiomes. A set of meanders and cuts created deep holes for bass and gar to hunt and long flats for the carp to forage. People turned these creeks into spillways to prevent property damage and minimize the impact on our lives in the city. Inadvertently, we enhanced the fishing environment by adding concrete to keep the creeks contained, and thus providing “rocky” cracks and overhangs. We introduced culverts that dump street runoff full of algae and fish food to attract baitfish, and the baitfish attract the urban fisherman’s sportfish like bass and gar.

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The bridges over the creeks often have broken concrete blocks that sluff into the streams they cross, creating eddies and rapids for fish habitat. The ditches are a balance of natural and manmade elements; shopping carts and hardwood trees alike influence the path of the ditch.

The fish, like the environment in which they live, are also a hodge-podge of natural and manmade influences. Floridastrain largemouth bass and tilapia have invaded the waters and pushed many of the natives to the side. However, the gar and catfish have held their niche within the water. The fish have learned to thrive in an environment that has been

Ditch fishing is not about bringing home dinner or trophy fishing; although, there are more and more tournaments in urban fisheries.

These fish have been living in whatever chemicals have run off our neightbors' ultra-green lawns.

influenced by us; it’s our turn to adapt our perspective and respect them in their environment. It is the pinnacle of the “rambunctious garden.”

Ditch fishing is not about bringing home dinner or trophy fishing; although, there are more and more tournaments in urban fisheries. These fish have been living in whatever chemicals have run off our neighbors’ ultra-green lawns. They may have an extra fin or two from the Houston wastewater, but they are simply fitting into the new environment we have helped create. Adjacent to the bayous of Houston are many miles of running trails for the city’s visitors

and potential shelters for the wanderers. A slight shift in the perspective yields another use: a sportfishing stream with nature all around. Ditch fishing is about adjusting to this environment and appreciating the new natural world we’ve inadvertently helped to develop. It is a foil of the past and an example for the future we are finding ourselves in. We may be living in a city, but we are not far from nature. Our cities have not been sanitized of the natural environment. The natural world has learned to adapt to our most utilitarian environments.

We can pay respect to nature’s resolve and return the favor by learning to connect back with the natural world.

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HENRY DAVID THOREAU

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

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Setting the Stage This is an interview between a good f riend of mine and about his experience with testicular cancer. I am really happy to say after all the follow-up tests, he now lives cancer-f ree. Throughout the interview, I’ll interject with a couple of my thoughts for clarity in italics, but otherwise, it will be a conversation between Dan and myself. I really wanted to capture the mentality he took, a stoic facade to crush cancer. Ironically, I think it’s something we as entrepreneurs can learn as well with our goals. We need to keep a stoic facade to think clearly about what is on the horizon or else we get lost in the wake of the present events.

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DAN FAUST CLEAR VISION IN CLOUDY WATER

Dan’s introduction doesn’t do him justice; the scar running down his chest speaks more to his intellectual and physical endurance than words can describe. He understands what it means to make decisions when your life depends on the outcome.He explored the depths of emotional despair. One trial after the other, growing in severity with each turn, he maintained his composure to see the next challenge. His chances of survival deteriorated quickly, from 94% initially to 75% after the final diagnosis of Stage 3C testicular cancer.

Dan self-started a strategy to save his own life from testicular cancer.

A D R A ST I C S H I F T I N G OA LS

I interviewed Dan one night after he quit his job with an automotive supplier and was making his way to Toyota. “That’s what I am saying because it’s not really about the money. I’m going to Toyota because I’m going to live in Ann Arbor. I want to learn the Toyota Engineering Method!”

Dan: So, I'll give you a clue. Before college, I was more shy than I am now; even more concerned about what people thought about me. I was the nerdy kid in high school.

Photos by: Justin McAfee

I wanted to start the conversation by talking about Dan’s goals before and after cancer. I figured this would give a really good representation for how Dan not only approached cancer, but also shifted his mindset as he walked into the battle.

Justin: Can we talk about how your goals have changed before college to after college?

Justin: There’s no way you were the nerdy kid.

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I have less patience for people who waste my time. I'm more goal-driven. I have things I want to accomplish. I just try to enjoy life more, you know? I know it's hard, but you realize how much you appreciate life when shit upturns it.

- Just a side note: this is the guy who shaved his legs and dressed up as Peter Pan one year for Halloween.

Dan: I was in high school, and I accepted that stereotype. I internalized it. I internalized how others saw me, and it affected me a lot. After high school, it was a traumatic summer. Huge self-reflection. Experiences. Go to college.

Fresh start. No one knows me, and I viewed it as that. I viewed it as a fresh start. I changed my goddamn name [from Danny to Dan]. So, there was a huge shift; if you want a graph, the squiggly line that signifies the change in scale. There was the high school me and then the college me, and it was a chasm between the two. And so, it took me a while to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be.

Justin: Do you think it took you too long?

Dan: It took me five years.

Justin: 5 years after High School? So, into grad school? Wow, you were 23 at that point!

Dan: Part of that learning experience was breaking up with my girlfriend at the time and realizing, “Hey, now I know what I want in a relationship. It's okay to be single and get some experiences dating around: being in college,

meet new people.” Just that solidified me as a person; confident in who I am.

Justin: What about before cancer and after cancer?

Dan: Patience is the big thing. I place more value on time than ever; I don't waste my time. I don't got the patience for that. Hell; I want to live my life. I've got my goals. I'm going to go out and get them. Nothing can get in my way.

Justin: So has your concept of life changed then?

Dan: I have less patience for people who waste my time. I'm more goal-driven. I have things I want to accomplish. I just try to enjoy life more, you know? I know it's hard, but you realize how much you appreciate life when shit upturns it.

Life is never really about the situation you are going through during the moment, but about the way you encounter the cards you are dealt in life. With Dan, I always noticed there was a way he held himself amidst strife, very stoic and level-headed. My father always told me a saying, “Better to remain silent than to remove all doubt and know you are the fool.”

DIFFERENCE IN L E A R N I N G STYL E S As with anything in life, when it comes to learning something new, something outside the scope of our understanding, we want to know we are getting ‘a deal’ for our time. Dan was thrown into the world of cancer, and now that you have an idea for the way he tackled his goals, why not discuss how he approaches learning? I discussed my style of learning because of the differences between the two. The main point I wanted to make here was the aspect of right and wrong. There is no right and wrong approach, only the goal that matters.

Justin: How do you best describe your learning style?

Dan: I do well in a structured environment when there is a problem, and I can just attack it, And

solve a predefined problem. But your learning can be described as, “How do I take what I know and apply it to creativity, to solving a problem?”

Maybe not as fully defined, just more creative minded. The creativity will be the solution to a predefined problem.

Justin: In terms of our schooling, our education, we never actually had a one-answer-fit-all solution.

Dan: Circuits [dealing primarily with the construction and basic theory of electrical systems] is a class I dropped maybe five points all year; same with statics [a class dealing strictly with rigid objects]. Those are classes where there was one solution. I can go into class. I can attack it. I can find it. I can solve the puzzle, and I can find the solution.

Justin: You know, I did the worst in those classes.

Dan: I crushed statics, circuits, those classes.

Crushed. So the difference in how we were brought up and learning the education is how I approach problem-solving.

GET TIN G CAN CE R Now to the meat of the equation. A lot of the story is the background in how Dan received the news, this is not the main bit. The main portion of the story is how he tackled his cancer and held the objective of living through the diagnosis. A common phrase when learning to fly is, “The first objective is to fly the airplane.” This may seem like common sense, but when you are constantly looking for other airplanes, talking with and writing down information from air traffic control, and making sure you are flying the airplane correctly, something has to give. Make sure flying the airplane is not one of them. In this case, “The first objective is to live through the diagnosis.”

Justin: Can you tell us how you found out about your cancer?

Dan: I went to the doctor, and they said, “Oh, that doesn’t look good. We'll have you get an

ultrasound.” So, I did an ultrasound on my neck, and they are like, “Ok, now you need to get a biopsy.” So, they did another ultrasound; they stick a needle in [the swollen lymph node], and they suck out fluid and blood. They did a test on that. That was on Thursday, then it took a couple days. On Monday, I'm at a Larry Gatlin country music concert. One third of the Gatlin Brothers band shows up to Saginaw to play just a horrible concert. We actually walked out of it.

But anyways, I was bored during the concert.

I checked my emails and saw it, “You have a test result.” So, I logged into my portal and saw the test result saying that I tested positive for embryonal carcinoma. I was thinking, “embryonal carcinoma, that doesn't sound good.” So, I Googled it, and it came back as testicular cancer. I was really confused.

So, we left the concert; I went home. I get back to my apartment, and I just spend a nice long time Googling, reading about testicular cancer. I read the whole PDF that ihs.gov had on their website; I read the whole thing.

Justin: Can you tell us more about what you were feeling in that moment? How did you get to the next step?

Dan: I went into work. I called my doctor the next morning, left a voicemail. Then, I started calling my family. The doctor got back to me saying, “Yeah, I saw that, I meant to call you today.” God, that doctor was an asshole. He was just bad at being a doctor.

So, I set up an appointment to see an oncologist in Saginaw, MI. My mom set up an appointment for a doctor in St. Louis. She actually called a friend of hers; the family friend that's a doctor in St. Louis.My mother asked, “Hey, who would you recommend?” and that’s how I got the name of the doctor that ended up being one of the doctors that treated me. found the best doctors and surgeons I could find and went to them. I even got second opinions. I had the same man that treated Lance Armstrong provide a second opinion.

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So, the info helps a lot, but the feeling? Disbelief, first off. Just like the five stages of grief. “This is not real; it’s a lump in my neck.” And it really doesn't fit. It wasn't until I was sitting in the first doctor [office]-the first Oncologist in Saginaw--where he's like... got his hand down there, feeling around because, “Oh, there we go. There's a lump.” Well, now that you pointed it out doc, I do concur. I can feel it. I feel it there. It wasn't very noticeable.

So, back to the moment I found out I got cancer. I went out. I called my family. I talked to my mom for a long-time, called my grandparents, and called my sister. And then I went back into work, and I told my boss. I needed to sit down and explain to my boss what was going on and told him I was going to the hospital tomorrow. I'm going to be gone. My boss was a great guy; he was very understanding, obviously. I mean, what could he say? “Oh sorry kiddo, gonna need to see you bright and early after chemo?”

Justin: Tell me about how you researched your treatment plan, how you got the doctors you needed, and how you crushed the disease.

Dan: Getting the doctors was pretty easy.

I outsourced a lot of that to my mom.

You know, she talked to her friends. One of them was a quality person for Barnes Hospital. So he's the doctor that ensures doctors are cleaning and following the right procedures. So it's kind of a quality role. So, he has a list of names, I make sure they were in my insurance network and just called them up and set appointments.

Main thing to get from this last response is networking, the more people you can ‘network’ with the more you can spread your goals to other people. In this fashion the more response you get, and the more you will achieve your objectives.

Justin: So you set up an appointment with five or six doctors and got varying treatment plans? You wanted to fish out the right doctor?

Dan: Yeah, I knew I wasn't going to the doctor in Saginaw. I had a list of questions I was going to ask the doctor, and I wrote all the information down into a binder: “How many patients do you treat in a year?” You know, “what hospitals are you affiliated with?” “What standard chemo plan do you follow?” I went to a doctor who had a good reputation, and the initial consult went well. You can't be too choosy, you know. Timing is relatively important, not taking too long. But then I did a lot of reading, I read. I read all they had on the .gov - the papers that they have on testicular cancer, cancer in general.

This is the really cool part of the story which took three interviews to get the information. The binder Dan kept during his treatment. He later talked to me about why he kept the binder and it hit me on the relevance with situations I have dealt with at my own job. Dan was saying that if the doctors didn’t need to ‘search’ for your medical history, they could spend more time treating you.

Justin: What was the lowest survival rate you got down to?

Dan: 75% for a five year survival rate.

Justin: Did you go through like a phase of hating life?

Dan: Never. I love life. I love living.

Justin: How did it change you though? Did it change you in a strengthening aspect or was it more emotional?

Dan: I would say there were some positive, and potentially, you could argue, negative outcomes on my personality and perspective. A lot of anger that I channeled into productivity. I thinkJustin: Why would you channel that into productivity?

Dan: I can sit around and be sad, or I can go do shit. I can go live; I can go accomplish things.

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Justin: Tell us how you came up with your treatment plan.

Dan: The initial treatment plan is pretty standard.

So, you go through the chemo; go through the surgery - orchiectomy - and have the chemo.

That's pretty standard. Sometimes, they do the lymph node surgery before the chemo, but that's a little unusual. So once the initial treatment was done, then you have to make some decisions; although in my case, it was pretty cut and dry.

Or·chi·ec·to·my /ˌôrkēˈektəmē / (noun): surgical removal of one or both testicles.

Justin: Which made it easier for you?

Dan: Yeah, but now I have to make the decisions for the surgery on my stomach. There's robotically or not robotically, and the surgeon in that area is one of the leaders in the field for robotic surgery for lymph node dissection, and he actually came out and said, “You are not a good candidate for robotic surgery. I would just recommend traditional surgery.”

Justin: Wow, wouldn’t expect that of a robotics leader.

Dan: Yah, that’s why it was really reassuring to not go with the robotic surgery.

Justin: Was it because they wanted to make sure and get everything?

Dan: That, and the mass was too large, because you know a robotic surgery is just a little hole they go into.

Justin: What about the binder? Can you tell us more about the methodology for why you kept the binder? Was is a good trigger for you to keep it? Do you still have it?

Dan: I'm not exactly sure where the idea came from. I don't know if I saw the advice online or

if it's something one of my mom's friends told me. It's funny like - I got a lot of my information on the internet, and my mom was there every step of the way - but different generation, different personality. She got a lot of her information from her network of other moms.

Justin: When did you start?

Dan: Right away, right to the first doctor's visit took my notes pages I had and the binder started right there.

Justin: First step was the first doctor’s visit…

Dan: First step was going to the doctor, agreeing that I need to go.

To recap: he walked in for a routine visit for some minor malady which escalated when they took a biopsy of some cells in his neck. He received an email while he was at a country concert; he tested positive for embryonal carcinoma. He googled it, and found out it’s medical speak for testicular cancer. Who sends an email for a positive diagnosis of cancer?! Dan called the doctor as soon as he could, and the doctor called him back a couple days later to let him know it came back positive for testicular cancer. This total disconnect and apathy from someone you thought would be on your side is where the split between TV and reality takes root.

When faced with a challenge like cancer, a decision has to be made: do I stand and fight against it or do I let it take its course? Indecision, especially in a very time-sensitive case like cancer, is a decision in and of itself. There is an article on NOMAD’s Facebook page about the mental stress entrepreneurs face while building a business. Just as with your business, a cancer may set in, and you can either face the situation head-on or wallow away, being at the mercy of the cancer. History is rife with stories of both paths, but the ones which are most telling are the ones where people stand and fight. Sometimes they live and sometimes they die, but the story is never in the ending, it’s always in the details of the process.

S ELF -START ING DAN’ S LIFE S AVIN G BUS INE S S As Dan came into the reality of having cancer, he confronted a common realization that many people face when they find themselves against long odds: you can’t rely on other people to make the plan for you, the treatment plan for Dan; you have to understand the background and context for yourself; if you don’t, the odds turn against you.

You have to say, “Fuck this cancer, I’ll take suffering to win this war.” NOMAD researches what isn’t

necessarily seen. What is it like in life with cancer?

You have to be your own advocate; you need to be prepared; you need to know all you can; you need to push for yourself. Be the entrepreneur! No one cares about your business more than you do. If you want to thrive, you need to be pushy. It has to be more than a job; it has to be a driving passion.

Dan and I will have known each other for a decade this coming August 2019. How long we have actually been close friends? Well, that's a completely different story. And it all starts with Justin flying up to see "Wisco" while Dan was getting his Master's in Material Sciences. He is working as a Material expert at Toyota.

Finally, someone putting their degree to good use.

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I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Leonardo Da Vinci

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CONTRIBUTORS Justin McAfee - Founder Kristen Saoud - Chief Layout Designer Melody Dusastre - Public Relations Consultant Rebecca Pollet - Chief Editor

Š 2019 NOMAD Magazine. All rights Reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocoying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of NOMAD Magazine. Published by Allied Printing in Ferndale, MI.

SECTION ONE Albert Tristan

Mackenzie Putici

millennialsmentor.off icial

newworldwinetours

albeargrylls

newworldwinetours

Cameron Mills

newworldwinetours.com

cameron.mills.music cameronmillsmusic

SECTION TWO Melody Dusastre melody.alice

Kyle Hampton kyle.b.hampton@gmail.com

Melody Alice J.D. Price johndarwinprice johndarwin.price johndprice13@gmail.com

SECTION THREE Bradley Branson

Kacie Elkins

mycozycorner

kacieelk

bradleybransonphotography

kacieelkinsauthor

bradleybransonphoto.com

kacieelkins01@gmail.com

Kitty Hu kittyxhu kittyxhu kittyxhu.com

Dan Faust dfaust2@gmail.com

Contents

| NOMAD

CO N N ECT WI TH U S NOMADtheMag NOMADtheMag NOMADtheMag

It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture.

It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA

NOMAD

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NOMAD A Guide for the Trailblazer