How a Seafood Warehouse Turned Me Into a Maker
I was born in 1987 in Los Angeles to parents who came to the United States from Mexico in search of a better life. I grew up in Orange County watching my father build a seafood distribution company from the ground up and my mother build comforters in our garage from scratch, cooking meals the same way — raw materials turned into something whole. From my father, I learned the power of building your own business; from my mother, I learned care, craft, and consistency. One summer in my dad’s warehouse office, a stranger taught me how to draw a motorcycle with three simple shapes; rectangle, circle, and cylinders. In that moment, I understood how simple shapes could become something real — and I became obsessed with building.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
In high school, golf looked like an individual sport, but it taught me the power of working within a team. I started near the bottom of JV and worked my way to tri-MVP varsity, pushed by coaches, challenged by teammates, and grounded in repetition. I worked at a local supermarket to fund clubs and lessons, learning that progress is earned and accelerated when you surround yourself with people who raise the standard. Improvement wasn’t luck — it was shared discipline.
Learning the System
In college, I didn’t just study 3D art — I followed whatever genuinely sparked my curiosity. That meant learning photography as the industry shifted from film to digital, experimenting with animation, and paying attention to what businesses actually needed from creatives. I started helping brands and communities tell their stories through images, video, and design — Over time, that path led me into automotive media and structured production environments, where I refined my technical skills and learned how strong visuals can make an impact. I wasn’t chasing titles — I was learning how creativity could solve problems.
No Blue Mondays
No Blue Mondays is the expression of everything I’ve learned — It’s my pursuit of creating work and products people genuinely want to use, built with intention and shaped by discipline. I enjoy solving creative problems. Using everything I’ve learned about systems, visuals, and collaboration, I’m focused on making things that stand on their own. What began with simple shapes in a seafood warehouse became a commitment to building from the ground up — and this is how I became a maker.