I failed my photography class in high school despite my teacher telling me I took great photos...
I'm a boundary pusher, a habitual line-stepper, a pioneer.
In 2004, I realized that I was wildly creative, but I needed to figure out a way to harness that creativity. So, for some reason, I decided to work in manufacturing. After 6 years in oil and gas, I decided that I didn't want to work in manufacturing. After a layoff, I ended up learning that I could go to school for design and writing, and I've never looked back.
Since 2010, I've worked with agencies, in-house creative teams, and started several of my own brands including Beer Chronicle. I've led, built, and managed creative teams with diverse skillsets including branding, digital, marketing campaigns, photography, video, and illustration. These days, I lead the team at Johnnyo Design.
When it comes to creative leadership, I live by 4 core values that I’ve learned from people far smarter than myself:
1. Helpful by design.
Your work is about people, not pixels. I steward my team to translate your messages from business expertise and features to customer-centric selfish benefits that build trust and loyalty with the people that matter most.
2. Less is more.
Sometimes more is good. Most of the time, it’s not. If we can’t explain it simply, we don’t understand it well enough, so we seek to better understand you and your end-users.
If it’s not helping communicate, it’s getting in the way of the message. Cut it.
3. C.N.E.I.
Constant and Never Ending Improvement. Healthy things grow. If it’s not growing, it’s dying. Cut it. Being in business for yourself is a fight every single day. I know that fight well, but C.N.E.I. turns losses into lessons and victories into dollars.
4. Do it once.
Do it right. Do it forever. Cutting corners and working smarter are not the same thing. If you think hiring professionals is expensive, hire amateurs first. 🙂
A little more about me, personally.
I'm Anthony.
I’m a first generation immigrant from Spanish and Belgian descent with some Mexican heritage mixed in – long story.
I'm Dad to two crazy kids.
My daughter, Kaeyln, is in highschool.
And my baby boy,
Carter, is in elementary.
Kaelyn
is almost as goofy as me.
And Carter...
Is growing like a weed.
My Mama, Catalina,
Deserves much of the credit for my creativity.
And my wife, Danielle
gets the credit for me being able to use it every day. Thank God.
I'm from Houston, Texas.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Win, lose, or draw,
I'll root root root for the home team.
I love to travel
and collect hot sauce and craft beer from around the world.
From sea to shining sea,
I try to hike to the top of the highest mountain or rooftop to really take in the views.
I try to keep myself
in circles of diversity.
I love to cook
and use my God-given talent to create things with my hands.
And I love to eat
even more than I love to cook.
I love basketball
Watching, playing, coaching, you name it.
And I also love
Basketball shoes, and running shoes, and cross trainer shoes, and... you get the idea.
I love nothing more
Than making memories with my friends and family.
When I'm not traveling...
I'm just in my office creating things.
Or I'm volunteering
With my friends at church.
I've always been creative,
but street art is what inspired me most when I was younger.
I'm very resourceful.
Sometimes my kids and I make Kool-Aid out of popsicles when I don't want to go to the store.
The men in my life
are constantly sharpening me.
I have an uncanny ability
of spotting poison ivy from miles away.
After a bad car accident,
I found out I have one extra vertebrae in my neck.
The most important thing
that you could know about me is this: I love what I do, and no matter how cliché it sounds, I don’t work a day in my life. Thank God.
