The Crazy Cart Shuffle—tell us how it all started.
The creation of the Crazy Cart Shuffle was a direct result of countless hours spent engaged in play and creative collaboration with my two sons, Justice and Merit, during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. With the Razor offices empty, I was able to bring my family with me to an empty design space and deep dive into exploration of what elements of various wheeled rides the kids find appealing, explore ways we could amplify those elements, and then spend a summer prototyping, testing, refining our designs, and repeating that cycle until we had a working prototype of an item that the boys truly loved.
Tell us how parenthood has changed you?
Parenthood has completely rearranged my priorities. Whereas my life before having children was narrowly focused on improving myself and my lot, becoming a father has come with a whole new value system that prioritizes the needs of my boys before my own. While I still gain a great deal of pleasure from acquiring new knowledge and skills myself, parenthood has opened my eyes to a parallel source of reward that is found in passing the benefit of my knowledge and experience on to my sons, enriching both their lives and mine in the process.
Your sons are 7 and 8, what have you learned most from them?
I have learned many things from my boys, but foremost is the power and necessity of exercising forgiveness. In my experience as a parent, the ability to forgive not only my children’s missteps, but less obviously, my own parental failures and shortcomings, is absolutely essential. The ability to quickly dust myself off, wipe the slate clean, and try again is one that I believe both serves my children in the short term and in the long term as a healthy model of self-love and resilience.
How do your sons inspire your creativity and work?
My sons are my inspiration. Having worked at a toy company my entire adult life, I’ve always looked forward to parenthood and the unique position I am in to create the very best toys for my children that I can imagine. Now that they are old enough to participate in my design process, I find their involvement in my work to be an invaluable asset and an incredible opportunity for our roles as teacher and students to be reversed.
Did you have a mentor growing up? And what role did that person play in your life and your career?
In addition to my mother and father who were my primary mentors throughout my childhood, I was lucky enough to form a relationship with an incredible friend and mentor when I was still a teenager. A couple years after first meeting Carlton Calvin at a local skatepark, he contacted me about helping him with his efforts to launch the original Razor scooter, beginning my 25-year relationship with Razor and giving me a front row ticket to watch how a business is built, managed, and grown. Our friendship evolved into a mentorship over time and Carlton helped guide me through many of my most important decisions. With his partnership, I’ve been able to make more out of my life, education, and career than I ever imagined.
Best life advice you received growing up?
Among the best advice I received growing up was to always maintain a growth mindset. This advice has encouraged me to embrace challenges, take setbacks in stride, and view failures as opportunities for learning and improvement. It’s taught me to view my abilities and intelligence as qualities that could be developed through effort, practice, and determination rather than as fixed traits.
When not working, where will we find you?
When I’m not working, you’ll find me with my family, very likely skateboarding, creating artwork, or enjoying time with our loved ones. We spend many nights and weekends together at our local skateparks, enjoy hiking throughout the San Gabriel Mountains, and depending on the season we migrate between L.A. county’s lesser-known beaches and snowboarding spots.
What would you tell your middle school self?
I would tell my middle school self to unapologetically pursue his passions. Looking back on my life, the highlights are all times that I was following my internal North Star, whether the world around me agreed or disagreed with the direction I was heading. Now, whether my middle school self would listen or not is a whole other subject.
Best advice on parenting you’ve received?
Without a doubt, the best advice I ever received on parenting was from the example set by my father of always letting me take the driver’s seat with respect to my life decisions. Rather than telling me what to aim to become or how to navigate my life path, my memories of my father invariably include him looking to me to lead and then finding opportunities to help me succeed in whatever endeavor I chose to pursue.
Now, as the parent of two very different boys, my father’s ‘let the kid drive’ approach has enabled me to support each of my boys as they embark in directions that I would never have considered for them, enriching my life in the process.
What are some of your favorite spots and activities in and around L.A.?
Los Angeles and the surrounding areas are so rich with incredible activities that it’s hard to pick favorites. That said, a perfect L.A. day for me might include a morning hike in the San Gabriel Mountains, lunch at a DTLA food truck and an afternoon of soaking in the artwork and culture before heading back to the San Gabriel Valley for a cornmeal crust pizza from Zelo’s in Arcadia that my family and I will devour at that night’s Monrovia skatepark session!