The Hustle
Years in Tampa Bay
15
Hustle (job)
Multimedia artist, designer and muralist.
What do you do?
Constantly chasing something; I’m inspired daily. I want to one-up myself on Instagram every day.
Why do you do it?
Because I’ve always loved it! I still have my first drawing, from when I was a child – an apple tree I drew in church. I always drew in church, and everybody would be watching me and not the minister.
What was your Catalyst? (How did you get started?)
I wanted to work for myself. I never liked working for people.
What’s a common misconception or unknown aspect of what you do?
I think if you’re well-known, you’re going to have your haters – people who don’t think you work hard for things. I’ve worked for everything I’ve had. My dad always made me work.
What’s the most challenging part of your Hustle?
There are certain clients I won’t work for. I don’t want to go paint somebody’s logo on their building. Now that I do murals, I would rather them come to me and say ‘what is your vision for this wall?’
What’s the most valuable piece of business advice/insight that’s helped you?
Going solo. My career totally took off once I parted ways with my ex-partner. I’m really proud that I’ve produced so much stuff on my own. That I don’t have some company and I don’t have to pay employees.
WHY ST. PETE?
I find St. Pete to be a creative city. At this point it’s still affordable for artists to live here. I just hope that it doesn’t lose what drew me to St. Pete – that eclectic, kind of beach vibe. Go see the sunrise, then go see the sunset: I love being encompassed by the water. But I also love all these restaurants and bars now … I wouldn’t live anywhere else in Florida, put it that way. I would probably be in California if I wasn’t here.
WHAT DOES THE SHINE MURAL FESTIVAL NEED DOING FORWARD?
I’ve been involved with it all three years now. My suggestion is to scale it back a bit, maybe instead of having 13 artists, have six. And we need someone who can do more fundraising for us. I think it would be cool to have a really well-known artist to come in and do something pretty epic and large.
HUMOR IS ONE OF THE THREADS RUNNING THROUGH YOUR WORK. WHY?
I had a great childhood. My family was always laughing. We were very social people. I feel like it comes from within, you know? I’m not angry in life. And I feel that if you use humor, you can get away with a lot more.
HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH THEFTS OF YOUR T-SHIRT DESIGN?
There have been a couple of knockoffs. If anything, I just don’t want people to think it’s me doing it, because of my brand. I’ve done a few Cease and Desists, and it’s really mostly to protect my brand. It’s not about money. I only hear about them when somebody tells me. I’m too busy creating my own work to bother searching the Internet.
