What is Suit & Artist?

I was the kid who drew Fred Hampton and Malcolm X in the margins of his notebooks. Loved to draw. Had an older friend who was far better and ran his own t-shirt business in San Francisco.

At 13, I worked at a gym where I met the owner of the agency St. Ides Malt Liquor had hired to connect with hip-hop culture. They were paying artists like NWA, Ice Cube, and Eric B & Rakim to make songs about their product.

The product was questionable but the music was fire. Mixtapes, commercials, the whole thing.

I struck up a conversation. Talked up my friend's t-shirt business. Made a sale. We designed promotional shirts. They were a hit. That deal turned into a long-term relationship with NWA, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and their labels. My friend went on tour as merchandise manager and designer.

I couldn't go because I was a freshman in high school.

First time I understood that connecting the right people at the right time IS the business.

I was a Combat Documentation and Production Specialist. Which is a fancy way of saying I made the military look good on camera while stationed in Korea.

My supervisor needed me to shoot and edit. I taught myself to write and narrate too because the mission required it and waiting for permission is how nothing gets done.

Became the top producer at American Forces Network-Daegu. Not because I was the most talented. Because when everyone else was drowning in deadline chaos, I figured out how to swim.

The military taught me structure. How to execute when everything's on fire. How to deliver on a Tuesday what seemed impossible on Monday.

Spent 15+ years making other people's impossible visions profitable.

Generated over $40 million in revenue for companies you've definitely heard of. Managed portfolios worth $25 million. Drove digital transformation for organizations that move slow and break expensive things.

Learned how Fortune 500 budgets actually work. Who says yes. Who says no. What makes the difference between a $5,000 project and a $500,000 contract.

Corporate America taught me the game. The rules, loopholes, and every place where execution beats intention.

There's a difference between knowing the rules and writing them.

I know Grammy-winning artists working for peanuts because they don't bother with contracts. I see engineers dismiss creativity as "soft skills" while their products fail in the market. And I see creatives spend 10,000 hours perfecting their craft and zero hours learning how money actually moves.

The artist who yawns when the spreadsheet comes out but complains about not getting paid? That's not oppression. That's choosing incompetence.

The MBA who thinks creativity is just "making things pretty" while their company loses customers? That's not strategy. That's arrogance.

Both sides are wrong. And both sides are leaving money on the table.

I run Suit & Artist on the thesis that creativity and commerce aren't enemies. They're dance partners. The system just convinced you to pick a side so you'd stay manageable.

The name says it all. Suit AND Artist. Not Suit OR Artist. Both. Simultaneously. Without apology.

Artists who want the bag but won't learn the game? That's on you. Business types who ignore creativity until their market share evaporates? That's on you too.

We teach the financial architecture that creates real independence. Corporate structures. Government contracts. International market entry. Tax optimization. Not because this stuff is more important than your craft. Because respecting how money works IS part of your craft.

Economic power through ownership. Creative freedom through proper paperwork. Generational wealth through systems that actually work.

Every member who builds their own system is one less person dependent on someone else's mercy.

We skip the theater. No panels. No pitching to rooms full of people taking notes they'll never read.

We do dinners where contracts get signed. International gatherings like Morocco Nights where serious people make serious moves. Direct advisory where we hand you the paperwork, not platitudes.

Currently guiding dozens of professionals from high earners to wealth builders. Not through motivation. Through documentation.

You're reading this because you're successful enough to know there's more available. Making good money but building someone else's empire. Trading your best ideas for direct deposit and dental insurance.

You're probably making six figures thinking about seven. Got proven skills people pay for. Working capital to invest without panic. And the willingness to master both sides of the equation instead of pretending one doesn't matter.

Suit & Artist exists for people who refuse to choose between creativity and commerce. Who understand that both require real skill, real discipline, and real respect for how the game actually works.

There's another way. Same structures the system uses. You just needed someone to show you the paperwork without apologizing for it.

The real revolution is ownership.

If this sounds like the conversation you've been waiting for, it continues every Tuesday at suitandartist.com.