Interview by Nnamdi Ihekwoaba

Photos by Owen Basher

What are you up to today? What’s your daily routine?

Go to work, get off, go hang out with my girl, or go skate.

I was actually lurking old footage of you recently. I was doing some research and some slight stalking…

Oh yeah? Those old videos are some of the most cringe videos of my skating haha.

Where in the DMV are you from? How was growing up in the area?

I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland and I grew up in Glenmont. I didn’t really start skating D.C. too much until I got older. My mom was really strict about me going out there just from her experiences growing up.

It was definitely a different D.C. back in the ’80s and ’90s.

Sometimes I tell her now that I’m at Shaw (skatepark) and she’s like “You’re up there??” and I’m like “…yeah?” and then she would tell me about shit that used to happen to her when she was growing up around there.

We skate pretty often but you’re up on a much earlier sunrise than a lot of us.

Yeah, I’m up by 4 o’clock. I gotta be at work by 5. It really sucks especially when you guys wanna be out late and I just can’t sometimes.

What do you do for work?

I’m an electrician. My company is contracted for Amazon so I technically work for Amazon. It’s like a second party type of thing.

How did you get into that?

From a family friend. He recommended me to the company that I work for now. I was mostly doing new construction before that and I’ve been doing this for about two years now.

That’s cool, how did you get into trade in general?

Through high school. I was in a trade school for two years of high school. I went to Thomas Edison. I was doing architecture there and I got really into it but I didn’t want to pursue that in college. They had me taking classes that I didn’t need to take for architecture. I was really fluent in CAD and everything but in college they had me taking two language classes and a bunch of other unnecessary classes that I felt like I didn’t really need in order to pursue architecture.

Were you encouraged to skate growing up? When did you start skating?

My two best friends Quinn and Hunter got me into skating and I was immediately hooked. My mom wasn’t so hyped on me skating, especially when I had broken bones or whatever but my friends were really the ones motivating me to skate.

Sometimes your parents aren’t hyped and then they see what it’s doing for you and your life.

And then they start to get it. They understand what skateboarding does socially.

How did you get involved with Embark?

I started skating with Eddie Gutierrez a bunch and we just kept on filming and skating. I guess Brent from Embark had him… I wouldn’t say recruiting, but keeping an eye on people that he’d like to ride for Embark. Brent ended up asking me if I wanted to ride for the shop and I was super down.

Embark is cool, they are doing their thing. They are taking that legacy of what Pitcrew did and keeping it pushing. It’s cool to be a part of that second generation that follows in Pitcrew’s footsteps.

Yeah, they are keeping the scene alive over there in Frederick.

Who were your influences on your skating growing up?

Probably Omar Salazar. He was one of the big ones. He’s actually the only one that comes to mind right now. He’s a legend.

How has skating in D.C. shaped your perspective on spots and filming?

Well to be honest, I feel like you guys are the ones that got me out skating the city more. I filmed with Eddie out in Maryland a lot and we were always driving from spot to spot. It got to the point that I got tired of driving and I just wanted to skate. So I’ve been taking the metro into the city a lot more and just skating. It’s been awesome.

When you are pushing around I feel like you can see things in more detail.

That’s true but I also feel like I’ve always had an eye for spots even when I was driving around. As far as just driving past something and being able to see if something can be done.

Thanks for your time. Is there anybody you’d like to shout out?

For sure, definitely shout out to you and Owen for making this all happen. Shout out to Embark. Shout out to Beltway and Statue. Shout out to my girl Helen, gotta do that. Shout out to my mom and my pops. And lastly, shout out fucking Glenmont.