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A designer, developer, writer, producer, remixer, DJ, content curator, and video editor. <font color="#84be46">He creates</font>.

A designer, developer, writer, producer, remixer, DJ, content curator, and video editor. He creates.

I am a Bay Area-based content creative born and raised in Los Angeles, California. After moving to the Bay Area to attend San Jose State University, I received a BA in Radio, Television & Film, with a minor in Creative Writing. I currently live in Oakland, California with my beautiful wife and try to explore my creativity every day. Being a recent Kidney Transplant recipient (❤️ thank you. wife ❤️), and the ongoing management of Type-2 Diabetes, I understand how precious and important health is and I strive to take advantage of every day.

 

Reaching back to my pre-teen years, I’ve been obsessed with discovering what it means to be creative. Combine that with a curiosity about ‘how things work’, and you have my journey through discovery. At the age of 5, I was tearing apart appliances to see how they work. At age 9, I saw Star Wars and realized I wanted to tell my own epic stories, so I started writing. At 15, I heard Run DMC’s “Rock Box” and became obsessed with Hip-Hop culture. I started learning how to DJ, make beats, and sell mixtapes to the neighborhood. Reaching college, I was an on-air DJ and descovered my love of design in all its forms.

My ongoing goal has been add new skills to my toolkit. Currently I work professionally as an online course developer, as well as create motion graphics and video editing. Outside of work, I make music under the name Big La vs. Todd and spin for a series of online mixshows and podcasts. 

Video Editing (Final Cut Pro)
95%
Motion Graphics (After Effects)
90%
Music Production (Lofi Hip-Hop / Remixes)
95%
Course Development (Articulate360)
90%
Writing (Content, long-form and short stories)
90%
DJ (Pioneer WEGO4 Controller w/ DJay Pro X)
85%
Web Development (WordPress/HTML/CSS/JS)
80%

Video editing

I'm skilled at shooting, editing, producing and effects compositing

Course dev

Using the Articulate 360 platformI build instructional courses.

Wordpress

I manage, update and design multiple WordPress websites.

Slide decks

Over two decades of corporate presentation design, using PowerPoint, Acrobat and Keynote

Motion

Using Adobe Creative Suite, I turn print and web branding motion for video and the web.

Design

Branding companies from concept to completion, using Adobe Creative Cloud.

Music Production

I produce Hip-Hop and Soul Music. Beats under the name Big La vs. Todd.

DJ/Mixshows

I spin Hip-Hop, Soul and Instrumental mixes, available on the Mixcloud app and website.

Music Playlists

Personally curated playlists by artist, producer, genre and sometimes... mood.

Gaming

I primarily play RPG's, Sims and 4X Strategy games on Xbox and PC.

Content Curation

I love movies, tv shows, music, comics, books, and more. I must collect them all!!

Writing

I love to write. I've been word-building Sci-Fi and horror stories since I was 9 years old.

Quick Facts

In 2020 I was diagnosed with stage-3 Kidney Disease. My kidneys were functioning at only 12%. For the next 3 years (with most of the help from my wife) I was able to stay off of dialysis by switching to a vegan diet and walking 3+ miles a day. Reluctantly on my part, my wife got tested and it turned out we both have Type-B blood, so she was a rare match. And in May, I successfully received one of her kidneys.

During high school, I never even considered the option of going to college. I just wanted to get out of school and get on with my life. But on that day, I accompanied my best friend to his Guidance Counselor to fill out his paperwork. While we were waiting for him to finish, she just looked at me and said: “Hey, you wanna go to college too?” I gave her a nonchalant “Yeah, ok.” She gave me enrollment and financial aid papers to fill out, and within a couple months, I got my acceptance letter and financial aid award. I wish I could remember her name. I need to give her a big hug but changing my life.

Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders) sends me into a jumping and screaming fit like a 5 year old girl. And I have a mild case of trypophobia where I can’t stand looking at large holes/pits on people’s bodies.

I grew up with a crippling shyness.. to the point where I would get panic attacks if I made eye contact with another person I didn’t know. It took years of conditioning to have functional interactions with other people. I can still feel it creeping somewhere inside me.

I had this dream of designing fighter planes and rocket ships when I entered college. I knew I was a great student when I would apply myself, but I couldn’t hack the entry level math courses. I knew I had to find something else I would be passionate about. I researched getting a design degree but the course list didn’t really appeal to me. Luckily I chose a Radio, Television and Film degree with a minor in Writing. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I shaped what I do for love and for money.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had bouts of depression like clockwork. It’s something that made me very susceptible to suicide at an early age. Luckily, I always found ways to creatively talk myself out of it until the feeling passed. I also suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and creep up on my at a moment’s notice. Breathing techniques have been extremely helpful in managing them.

For most of my life, I never cared about traveling. I was happy at home with my own stuff. My previous job change that, sending me across the country on video shoots. My current Job sent me to London to shoot a training shoot, which marked my first trip outside of the United States (excluding Mexico).

People look at me weird when I say I hate driving. I mean I REALLY hate driving! My father regifted me my first car in high school and the moment I tried to drive it out of his driveway, the rusted axel snapped in two. After that, I never gave a crap about getting behind he wheel. I’d rather spend a fortune on taxis, buses and Ubers, than own a car.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes over a decade ago. A lifetime of bad eating and neglecting my health caught up with me. By the grace of all that is Holy, I met and married an incredible woman who immediately made me go cold turkey with fast food and researched tirelessly on healthy foods I’d love to eat. For a while after that I was pretty health but got lazy once again and let my health slide. Currently, I’m working on changing my daily habits to get myself back on course.

One of those unknown things that creatives won’t tell you, is that they fear that day when the world finds out you’re a talentless hack and everything you’ve ever done was just ‘smoke and mirrors’ or plagiarized from more talented people. It sounds like a bad thing, but it’s one of those things that keeps us striving to get better.

I love writing. I love world-building and creating characters and moments that could be considered shocking. So for research I started watching movie, tv show and trailer reaction videos on Youtube, to study the scenes and momentS that generated the most emotional responses. I’d like to say it’s still research, but it feels like I’m an empathic vampier leeching off the emotions of reactors online.