Our favorite stories:

• "I started Bakery when I was 27... I didn't know how to do anything but I thought I knew how to do everything better than everyone else."
• "If you're from a place like the Dominican Republic, you're surviving... there's very few career tracks. You have a main career and a lot of side (hustles)."
• "Once puberty hits... I was out there tagging walls... and then I had a mentor."
• "This is the passion of my life, working with people who are way more talented than I'll ever be."
• "As an immigrant kid, you feel like there are these gatekeeping moments. Like that's not for you, and then you get into it, and people want your opinion..."
• "Having great people in this industry, with nothing in return, give their time to someone that they don't know... it honestly makes you very humble, it makes you understand this is a give-back industry..."

Big moments from doing the work:

• Launching BioWare / EA Games - "it was like a school I never had"
• From :30s at a time to an industry that keeps people's attention for 200 hours at a time
• Failed multiple times - Bakery went out of business 4x - "I had to reinvent myself and the agency."
• "...Decidedly an old school place. I wanted it to be a creative hub... like the agencies I grew up idolizing. Less digital, less data-driven... boring the crap out of me. Vaporware."
• Starting KEN media with Shiner Beer AOR - a great example of clients giving you opportunity to grow. "I wish this kind of relationship on any agency. We use the word Partner so often... when I say partnership, they are on my mind. We are both in for the benefit of our people."

Career advice we'll live with:

• "Please stay dumb and curious"
• "I'll out-work anyone in any room I'm in. That's the super power..."
• Moving from survival to thriving model of thinking - "...we're in a Renaissance of indie agencies... there is something to be said about the agility afforded to you by independence."
• "Capitalism never sleeps. Every time the checks have more 0's on them... as an immigrant to this country, the idea of the US is to make it. You have to come to terms with what that means to you."
• "There was a pitch floating around... I want to do this just to see all the things we need to fix. If Bakery took off at this rate [like KEN], I'd be calling you from Air Force Bakery."
• "I believe in know what you're good at and what you're not good at, and letting people do what they're good at."
• "Watch Canada."

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