How These NYC-Based HustlersEMBODY THE ADIDAS SUPERSTAR'SMessage Of Change

After graduating from University of North Carolina School of the Arts, I made the decision to relocate to NYC to begin my career as a dancer. Like many others, the biggest challenge I faced was the balance between making ends meet and pursuing my desires. I thought I knew, or at least had a good idea of, the career path I was hoping to take until Camille A. Brown, a dancer & choreographer I REALLY admired, advised me to throw out all my preconceived notions and go for every opportunity that presented itself – from commercial work, to choreography, performing, theater, teaching, and all the things that encompass a dance career. Camille said to me, “you have to define what success means to you”. That really stuck, but it still took years to fully make this mental shift. I had to strip away the career everyone expected me to have, self-reflect, and really decide how I wanted my career to look—one that I could look back on and be proud of.

I still have a long way to go to truly consider myself successful, but if I had to mention the biggest change I had to make to contribute to my growth, it would be the adjustment of my approach in understanding the thought process of how a person creates a product. Studying the knowledge of a finished product is how I used to approach this, but I now focus on the process of the phenomenon behind a creation. For example, I would simply serve “cappuccino” as a part of the coffee menu, but as I opened doors to my cafe Round K, I started to concentrate more on the question “What is a Cappuccino?” I realized that historically how long the cappuccino had been serve, and based on what I learned about its history, I was able interpret it in my own to create one of our signature menu items – the “Egg Cappuccino.”

I’m from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, and grew up an only child in a conservative family. Moving to NYC at 18 was absolute culture shock, and looking back on those early years, all I see is constant change. I questioned everything I knew – my identity, beliefs, habits, etc. Kept some, changed most. Experimented a lot. I was always a creative, driven kid, but definitely never set out to be an artist. There was this one afternoon that’s always stuck with me – I was in my buddy Nick Forker’s studio, which was down the hall from mine, venting about the ebbs and flows of my art. He looked at me and told me to get on board with the marathon of life as an artist, that the highs and lows were something I needed to embrace. The first time I realized that I was an actual artist, someone had to tell me. But he was right, and there was another shift – I started thinking differently about my intentions and the life I saw for myself for the next few decades.

For those of us that move to NYC from other places in the US, I think change is ultimately inevitable because this city is so unlike any other place in the country. So I think part of the success I’ve achieved was just learning to adapt and embrace the city for what it is, the good, bad, & ugly. But the number one factor in any success I’ve achieved here in NYC is the community of friends I’ve met at the church I now help lead called C3 NYC. There’s this sort of arrogance in a young 24 year that moves to NYC thinking he can take on the big city by himself but I was quickly humbled by the fact that maximizing my potential is actually connected to the kind of people I allow into my life.

Speaking of change, I find it’s not something that people necessarily like or know how to do. Its human nature where we want to “belong” or “follow.”  There isn’t anything wrong with that as you always hear that being yourself is what makes you the most happy and comfortable. Change, progression or success, if you are speaking in terms of career or recognition, requires assertiveness, persistence and being outside one’s comfort zone. I always tell my team that hard work is the easy part – anyone should be able to do it. That being said, I tend to stick to what I’m good at but simultaneously be adaptive and ready to evolve in today’s fast changing world. My boss, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, had recently asked me, “how did you achieve success in what you do?” I told him that whenever I’m doing something, I only want to be the best at it – or else don’t do it.