how I started
It was late afternoon in a typical foggy San Francisco, but on this day the universe got a bit creative with the lighting. It was the kind of light that makes everything simply feel softer. You might’ve experienced something like this before. Sometimes the skyline or certain buildings can look two-dimensional, a bit illustrative like a video game, in an appealing way.
I was biking home from my weekly meeting on the 55th floor of the Salesforce Tower, where I’d spent the day in meetings as we were designing a stunning office space for a big overseas client. My route always paused at the ferry terminal while I waited on my usual boat ride back to Oakland.
That evening I stopped at Hi Dive, the little outdoor bar near the ferry. The place sits right where the bay catches the last light of the day, and it was just so cozy being inside my skin with those last few moments of sun on it. I ordered a Lagunitas IPA (three years sober now, by the way) and found a seat outside.
The sun was slipping behind the bridge, and I could feel it on my face, like a last thin ribbon of warmth that fades faster than you want it to. I kept nudging my chair back every few minutes to stay in it, soaking up every remaining bit like an iguana.
I opened my sketchbook. Pulled out my handy Micron (.02) pen and small Sakura watercolor set that are always with me. I started sketching the structure of the beautiful Bay Bridge right next to me with the reflection in the water.
I wasn’t sketching for anyone at all. I was simply creating for myself because it brought me immense joy, which we can so easily forget to do in this day and age. It’s one of the most important things we can do for our soul. To make something purely because it fills your own damn cup.
Rick Rubin famously says, “The audience comes last. If you start by making something that pleases you, that feels honest, others will feel it too.”
I was living that without realizing it. I didn’t sketch for a boss or a client. I didn’t get into architecture to please anyone. I did it because it made me feel alive.
A woman sitting beside me leaned over and said, “You drew that? That’s beautiful. You gotta sell that.”
We talked for a while, and by the end of it, she asked if I could paint her mother’s house in Cole Valley as a birthday gift. I said yes. It became one of my first art commissions in San Francisco.
That moment was a good one for me regardless of how little money that commission put in my pocket and how much time I had spent on it. It was a good moment because it reminded me that the things we make for ourselves, the ones born from devotion, from the need to express, are often what resonate most deeply with others.
So, without even knowing it, I began to build something that was mine.
My own personal brand.
(Check out that commission sketch of the old Victorian below, as well as that Bay Bridge sketch while waiting for the ferry)
everyone has a brand
The key premise of personal branding is that everyone already has one.
Most people just haven’t taken the time to define it.
By the time we reach adulthood, we’re in survival mode, working, reacting, staying busy. We rarely stop to ask what we’re even passionate about anymore, what inspires us, or what kind of change we want to bring into the world.
Beyond getting people to know you, the deeper question is:
what do you want to be known for?
That’s where a personal brand begins.
My sketches turned into prints. Then commissions. Then an Etsy shop. And then some art shows.
Then came furniture, art installations at Okta, packaging design, apps, websites, brands, and my writings. Soon it will be music. I don't want it to end.
What began as a personal brand became a creative studio, and now it’s an ecosystem. I’m in a season of expansion. Writing and designing my own book. Building an app that automates my design and strategy process. Creating artwork and passive income streams. Managing clients. Producing meditation tracks on Spotify and Insight Timer.
Everything I’ve built started from that one moment, choosing to create for myself. For the joy of it.
devotion builds trust
The future belongs to those who lead with heart and devotion.
When you share your story, your process, your values, your mistakes, when you let people see you, they begin to trust you. Because you make mistakes and learn from them, this will allow others to grow through that process. You're relatable. And simply real.
a personal brand can grow beyond you over time
It becomes a living extension of who you are, something that continues to move even when you’re focused elsewhere.
If you want your brand to feel alive, start by defining what you stand for.
what you stand for
What are your pillars? Your mission? Your non-negotiables?
Your brand is the architecture of your values, the bridge between who you are and how the world experiences it.
A good designer will help you define these and give you some serious clarity. But it can go a really long way if you dedicate some solo time to work on what fires you up the most in the world, and how you want to bring change to it.
Once your brand is rooted in your authentic self and your values are clear, your message begins to sound undeniably like you. Your visual identity takes shape. Then comes the next question. How the heck do I use this thing?
How do you connect with your audience? How do you share your ideas in a way that builds trust and momentum over time? How do you make your brand work for you? Where does it live, and how does it grow?
rented vs owned
I learned this one the hard way.
For years I shared everything on social media pretty religiously. Sketches, ideas, process shots. Some posts reached thousands, others almost no one. It started to feel like shouting into the wind.
That’s when I realized how fragile a “following” really is.
Social media is rented space. Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube. The walls, the rules, even the way people see your work can change overnight.
Owned space feels different. It’s your newsletter, your email list, your text community. The people who actually want to hear from you. That’s where you build something real. Your newsletter is your godsend. It’s the one place that belongs entirely to you, untouched by algorithms or fleeting trends. It’s where your voice lands directly in someone’s hands, where connection happens quietly but deeply. Over time it becomes the heartbeat of your brand.
Only about 2 to 4% of your followers see what you post on social media, while more than 40% of your email subscribers open what you send, proof that owning your audience will always outperform renting one.
But don’t give up on social media just yet. It’s still the gateway, the discovery tool that lets people stumble into your world. Use it to inspire, to test ideas, to start the conversation. Just remember where the relationship deepens.
You don’t need to post every day or chase numbers. You just need to keep showing up and commit to developing your storytelling skills. Something real enough that people can feel it.
Growth happens when what you share comes from intention, not reaction.
Once you start showing up consistently, the next step is knowing how to do it with purpose. How to create in a way that feeds both you and your audience, without burning out or getting lost in the noise.
And this is where some structure helps...
the content GPS
Matt Gray calls it the Content GPS — foundation, multiplication, and distribution.
Your foundation is your message. The architecture of what you believe. What you stand for. A brand is most definitely not a logo. It’s a belief system.
Multiplication happens when one idea takes many forms. A journal entry becomes a blog. A talk becomes a post. A sketch becomes a print. A print becomes an art show. An art show becomes murals in Okta offices.
And distribution is how you share it, the channels, design, and experience that carry your work outward. Design is the compass that guides your audience home.
Most people throw content into the world like messages in bottles. Try not to do that. The future belongs to those who sketch their own map.
your magic
Start by making things in batches. It helps when your energy dips or inspiration fades. Write a few pieces while you’re in flow. Record a handful of videos when the spark is there. Build a small reservoir of work that your future self will thank you for.
Try new tools too. If AI helps you think faster or move ideas forward, use it. It will never replace the human part. It just frees up space for it.
Most people get caught up trying to create for approval instead of expression. The truth is, what we make isn’t just for show. It’s a reflection of who we are, how we see, and what we care about.
That’s your magic. It’s the energy that moves through you when you’re creating from devotion, the work that fills your cup and reminds you why you’re here.
Then there’s your message. It’s the way that magic travels outward, how it reaches people through story, design, sound, or experience.
Magic gives the work its life.
Your message carries it to others.
Whether you’re a founder, teacher, musician, author, or designer, your work probably lives between those two forces. That’s where connection happens.
Your magic is what people feel before they even know your name. It’s the pulse behind the work, the part that cannot be faked.
Your message is how that pulse moves. Through the words you write, the visuals you create, the way your work makes someone pause and feel something real.
When your magic and your message move together, your brand begins to breathe.
build your empire
Your personal brand is the most powerful tool you have to reach your goals.
Think of Michael Jordan or Tom Brady, for example. Their brands extend far beyond the teams they played for. The jersey mattered less than the name on it. They carried their identity wherever they went, proof that when you know who you are, no platform can define you.
That’s the future of personal branding.
It’s about building something that grows with you.
Something that lives beyond the office, the job, or even the industry you started in.
When we see someone embrace who they are, it gives us permission to do the same.
If you’re building something with intention, with devotion, for the love of what you do, I’d love to help you shape it.
I build brands and websites for people and founders who live with intention, think wellness studios, Ayurvedic food brands, architects, authors, coaches, pretty much the ones who are creating from truth and building from heart.
Your story deserves to be seen.
Let’s build the world around it.
the last light
A few months after that afternoon at Hi Dive, I took the ferry home as usual. It was golden hour again. I leaned my bike against the railing and watched the sun stretch across the bay, that same sliver of warmth I’d been chasing all winter.
That winter I was staying up late most nights, working on my first art show, the one that pushed me to finally build my own e-commerce website, start sharing more of my work, and begin growing an audience around what I loved. It was messy, new, exciting, and real.
I thought about how something as small as that sketch at Hi Dive had set everything in motion. One drawing, one act of making something for myself, one moment of choosing creation over hesitation.
It reminded me of something Steve Jobs once said about taking a calligraphy class at a college, a course that had no practical use, only beauty. Ten years later, those lessons shaped the typography of the first Macintosh. Jobs said if he hadn’t followed that little bit of curiosity, the Mac wouldn’t have had the kind of design that helped defined the future of technology.
That story has had such a great impact on me.
Because what looks like a small act of creation, like a sketch at sunset or a class taken for no reason but love, is often the beginning of a creative empire.
No one builds a legacy from strategy alone. It grows from devotion and from the moments that fill your cup before anyone’s watching.
That’s how I began.
That’s how I’ll always begin.
And maybe you will too, chasing that last sliver of sun, making something just for you, and discovering how far it can go once you finally share it.
