My story begins at the early age of 2 years old. Every time my dad brought out the camera i would ask “Let me see!” Cut to a few years later I really got into movies. Jurassic park and Tobey Miguire’s Spiderman 2 were my favorites to recreate with my toys. I would use the family camcorder to reenact scenes from those movies. In my early teens I was beginning my YouTube world. I would watch the YouTuber Solid Brix Studios. He made these really cool stop motion movies so it inspired me to write my first script for a lego star wars film!

This was the first time I opened up an editing software. Windows movie maker.

Though I started filming, I never finished that movie. It was my fault for writing in sets I didn’t have. Though it was a small scale, I had my first movie FLOP!

in 2016 my love for YouTube grew and I wanted to be a part of the action. So I got a camera and set up my gaming setup and started my first youtube channel EggrollJabs. Haha it was a gaming channel inspired by Markiplier. I pursued this channel for the next 2 years. Experimenting with gaming and react videos. I went in on YouTube for the fun of it but half way through I really wanted to grow and make this a job. But the struggles of imposter syndrome entering a niche that was growing fast and super saturated, I felt I never would stand out.

Again another dream died.

2017 just one year later, I came across Casey Neistat. For most I don’t think I need to introduce him. He is the Godfather of YouTube vloggers. He inspired me to make the movie ideas I had in my head, that they didn’t have to be super high produced to be a good story. In 2018 I started my freelancing career and filming weddings was my first few gigs. 2019 I started to really go after learning how to edit and tell stories. Sometimes at my janitorial job, I would clean faster so I could spend some time and edit in the supply room. Later that year, I took my first big risk and left my stable good paying janitorial job and got hired on as the content creator for a non-profit start up in downtown Chicago. This was amazing! I was getting closer to the dream of being in a big city and making videos like my inspiration Casey!

So in 2020 I decided to pursue a vlog channel, THIS WOULD BE MY YEAR!

Yeah….I think we all reluctantly remember how that year started. I could have gave up but this is what I wanted to do, this is what I thought about everyday at work cleaning toilets.

During this, there was no in person events so I had to learn graphic design to basically keep my job. I’m really thankful to have learned this because it has helped me to design my branding for my website and socials. After 2 and a half years at that job I took another huge risk of changing jobs to work for a YouTuber in Ravenswood Chicago Eric Floberg. At Creative Club Chicago (RIP) I learned SO much: a lot more of the technical side of lighting, color grading, how to make tutorials, helping relaunch Eric’s running channel, etc… My favorite part of that job was traveling for the doc feature on Joe Greer an incredible film photographer. He is such a gem. This project was incredible to be on set but also a couple years later in 2024 see my name in the credits on an actual movie theater screen! At the end of 2023 I decided to take on my recent big risk of becoming a full-time creator.

Ok so let’s talk about 2024. After years of imposter syndrome and self-doubt I started this year with being invited to Base Camp from Simon Kim. WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS, especially this soon after only being 4 months into my full-time creator life. My video in December took me from 1k subscibers to 16k!!! In the spring time I was a part of and hosted creator events. To see an aspiring unified creative economy here in Chicago is such a huge deal and I am honored to help facilitate that! Later in June went to Base Camp……IN FRANCE! That was a fever dream man like what WAS that?!?! That week was the first time in my life that I was surrounded by other creators that were successful and I didn’t feel imposter syndrome! This was 1 of 2 trips this year that made me feel I am right where I should be in my creative career. In August I went to my first Let’s Ripple event in NYC. This was a day trip but worth every minute! Another step in seeing this creative community on a bigger scale. In September I won one of Colin & Samir’s Weekend Film Festivals. AGAIN….how haha. Not only did I get to have a really nice convo with Colin at the VIP party (also Ian Hecox walked by me….AHHHH) I met some really cool peeps and we stuck together the entire 3 days of VidSummit. In November 1 year marking being a full-time creator, there was another Let’s Ripple event this time collaborated with Tati (a friend I met at France Base Camp) with her org Creators-On-Creators. This is was the best way to end this crazy crazy year. This time I stayed a week in Bushwich. I felt a taste of what it would be like to work and live in NYC. Which is my favorite city if you couldn’t tell after me coming through twice this year. This was the 2 of 2 trip this year that finally put a squash my imposter syndrome. Wondering if I’m making anything good and or impactful to my audience. Though I can’t afford to move to NYC anytime soon I am happy to know I have a home there when I do visit and amazing people to see.

Now in 2025 I have built my YouTube channel to 19k+ subscribers. And you know it, taking on another risk 😎

More to come in a vlog soon 🙌

YouTube Video of the Week

This weeks video comes from me haha. This is the first episode of my new New York City Series.

I’m super excited to share this first episode because this time in NYC changed me! I feel New York City is like chapters in my life and my character in this creative world is developing more and more every time I’m there! I’m finding a home away from home there. I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to live there, but I’m happy to know I have amazing friends there that are so welcoming and insanely creative!

The day coming into the place I was staying, I got to stay with Joel and Tati who were both at the France Base Camp. It was a full house of creators at the building we stayed at in Bushwich. This was the farthest I ever been into Brooklyn. It was almost like I got a chance to fall in love with NYC all over again 🥹 Settling into the house and the old and new friends was almost immediate after the mess of missing my flight and having to fly into Newark instead of Laguardia and having to take the train all the way over to Brooklyn haha. But it was a fun way to start the adventure.

This was my first time missing a flight ✈️

This isn’t in the video but I did watch the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight and…..very sad fight. Also I DID NOT need to see Mike Tyson’s cheeks on LIVE TV hahaha.

This is 1 of 7 videos in the series so if you’re interested please subscribe and see you every Monday going forward 😎

My Trick to Have a better Morning Routine

As everyone I want to this year to have better habits! I have struggled in the past to have a good morning routine waking up earlier and working out. But after a week whether a trip or plans got in the way and once the routine was off it stayed off.

But the biggest contender wasn’t that. It was the fact I didn’t have a structure to get rest at night. I credit this nightly routine to Taha (@khanstopme) for sharing this.

The Alarms

7:00PM - Dinner

9:00PM - No more adding new tasks

9:30PM - Brush teeth and prep for bed

10:00PM - Get in bed and lights out

I will be starting this, this week and will get back to you on how this goes! Feel free to try it out along with me and share in the comments how you feel!