I am not an engineer. I am not a programmer. I am not a scientist, or a doctor, or an artist. Today however, I am an inventor.

As a child, I was often asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I caught on early that the most appropriate response to a question like this was whatever could draw a chuckle or a smile out of the person asking. I told my dentist I wanted to be a dentist. I told my pediatrician I wanted to be a cardiologist (he appreciated that word coming from a 5-year-old). I told my grandparents I wanted to be a rock star and I suppose my career as a politician began. But, I am not a politician. Truthfully, I grew up in the early 90s. I was the kid glued to the television for Reading Rainbow, Bill Nye The Science Guy, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Bob Ross, and so on. I grew up under the influence of boomer-designed media that unapologetically promoted youth exceptionalism in the United States, and I drank the Kool-Aid. I still prescribe to that specifically irrational American exceptionalism from time to time. Although I have become much more self aware with age, I give credence to the phrase, "fake it till you make it." I grew up in a culture that has literally turned it into a business model. I am looking at you anonymous overfunded tech startup.

Of course, I was disillusioned and subsequently shed my cynacisms in my teens and then came into a healthy degree of self confidence as an adult. Being exposed to startup-land from an early age primed me to develop an intuitive sense for business and technology. I entered the workforce as a tech media professional and got so completely entrenched in it that something miraculous actually did happened. Horizontal innovation. As part of the communications team at a high tech company I often spoke to the brightest minds in the organization about the company's roadmap. I worked directly within analyst relations and I actively participated in online communities that were critical of the industry. I learned a lot really fast and I found my mind bursting open with "what ifs" and "whys" about everything new I encountered. I can't recall exactly how it happened but one day I mentioned an idea I had to a colleague and they suggested I patent it. I submitted the idea and thought nothing of it. It happened that the technology review board approved the idea, I breifed some lawyers, and the company persued a patent. I had caught the bug from there.

I have developed and persued 5 patents in my career so far and it has NEVER been my job to do so. I am a marketer. While it is certainly my job to know product-market fit for a very diverse set of technologies, inventing has only ever been a passionate hobby. Today, January 14th 2020, I was issued a patent for an invention that I have spent the better part of 5 years developing with some seriously brilliant people. I grew up thinking I was special, I outgrew the expectation that I actually was, but today I feel somehow exceptional. This patent was the 4th I applied for with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the prior 3 were uncerimoniously denied because the ideas were not original. It is a proud day for me and I can't help but think of all those silly TV personalities that told me I could be anything. Well, today I can.

Read more about what I invented here:



