Thick & Thin, Forever: The End.

TWIYS Media LLC was nothing more than a dialogue that was instigated and then coaxed out of me, by an individual named Daniel Gross, If you google Daniels name, you will discover—like I did—that he sits on the board of one of the most prestigious start-up incubators this side of the equator. In fact: Y-Combinator is actually valuated at 100B all things considered. Don't believe me? Not a worry just take a minute to hit that clickable link I left for you to fact check me, I'll wait!

Ok, now that you see what I'm referring to, we can get on with this illustrious ceremony! Jokes aside though, just how Daniel came across my name, I may never know. What I do know is: for an entire year now, my life has been flipped upside down and I have been locked into a global competition called Pioneer which is essentially like a lobby for YC. I'm referring to le Creme De la creme of Silicon valley. I am still massively puzzled by the idea that a guy who is largely but indirectly responsible for apps like AirBnB, DoorDash and countless others, would even consider me of all people as likely contenders in a battle of intelligence and resource; to ultimately find and endorse the next start-up superstar—but nonetheless—I am equally as curious how he even got my name and e-mail to invite me into this elaborate maze in the first place, so I press onward! During this last year I relocated—on a shoe string budget—to the LA area and broke ground on what is now likely the next new rock-star app you will have on your phone in the coming months concerning music/entertainment, simply titled, "TWIYS/TWIST.

While that reality swirls magically around both my thought life and my real -time circumstances, I constantly find myself combing through what seems to be an endless rolodex of contacts. Contacts tucked snuggly away in my phone and-much more importantly-my heart, searching for the perfect people to honor in what un-mistakenly appears to be my special moment in time. See, we never arrive to our destinations unassisted so as much as I would like to gloatingly hog the credit for these wonderful trophies I'm moments away from receiving, I cannot because although I do not owe it to him—his words exactly by the way, I am compelled to make sure that: one of my best friends Trent Dewsnup, who has unselfishly helped me on so many occasions I couldn't begin to keep track of, deserves to accept these trophies right along side of me!

Trent and I met in grade school where we grew up in Red Bluff CA while we were nothing more than classmates with similar aspirations and dreams. I had a group of friends that I ran with called Pure Dope, and he had a group he ran with called the Boogaloo Crew. Although my group was a rap group and his group was a dance group we were still in rife competition with each other as you can imagine. To give context, we both lived in this small town, where not a lot happened. Small town rivalries have this riveting effect on young kids growing up in under privileged circumstances, I'm sure of it. I think its our way of making the small town experience exciting. Truthfully, I recall our rivalry as being so cinematic, mostly because of that underlying fact that Red Bluff is so small. To give you an accurate idea of just how small the town is: the entire population-to this day-is home to no more than only 20-30,000 people max!

So now imagine with me if you will, the grandiose personas of both me and Trent back then. The town just weren’t big enough for the both of us! We finally found the occasion to clash at an all school dance event, I believe it was freshman year of high school. Kindly allow me to rewind for just a spell, in order to properly set this stage: even though we were both acutely aware of each other ie; first and last names, area of hangout ect. We were simultaneously—as rivals in small towns commonly behave—completely oblivious to each other nonetheless! Unless of course you include acknowledging each others personas! In that case I'm positive we were both happily anticipating the run-in that would soon ensue, and as it were: was now gingerly afoot—as they would say in mid-evil times!

It was nearly nightfall. The visibility level was approaching the stage of dusk where: faces from one person to the next are mostly unrecognizable, but it hadn't quite reached that pivotal moment yet. The air was cold and thin next to the armory, an army base which was located just around the corner of a continuation school named Salisbury, which is where the dance was held. Just passed me a few hundred feet away I heard someone casually mention my name in a sentence that was more informative than confrontational. However, this happened to be a night like many others where I was just passed the point of slight intoxication. Honestly, I may have been a little more plowed than I would like to admit, but when I heard my name I felt sobriety invade my world semi-aggressively. Abruptly I yelled back, "who wants to know!" I was already angry for no reason. No apparent reason anyway, what was unbeknownst to anyone at the time was: I had a very tumultuous relationship with my step-dad at home. My home life was a bit of a war zone because of that. Consequently, I was always ready to take my anger out on something or someone, in order to blow off steam. This was my opportunity. As I shouted back into the night air, my voice in an antagonistic tone, “Who wants to know!” Trent emerged from the dark and made his way toward me. Funny as it were, I don't exactly recall the conversation in it's entirety. What I do remember was a resolution with Trent and instead of the fight I was looking for, an agreement to meet up after school sometime soon to practice some dance moves.

Later that evening I still found my target and got into a semi-bloody brawl inside the restroom with a latin0 guy who was just about my size because I had missed the opportunity to take my anger out until then. But looking back I realize that mine and Trent's first encounter wasn't suppose to be a fight. When the right friendships come into your life, they wont be forced or awkward and they will flow just like water in a stream, or a brook: ever changing but constant. Me and Trent became fast friends. His place wasn't far from mine so I would go over there routinely after school to hang-out in the coming days which then turned into months and finally years. From church youth groups to trouble making at bars and strip clubs Trent has always been the buddy that I wanted to share my experiences with. Just as water tumbles down a creek bed, always changing as it makes it's way to the final destination, so has our friendship tumbled in and out of troubles, relationships, hell just about everything you can think of! From run-ins with the law, to marriage and kids we've been friends through it all.

Because I've always had a such a keen sense for adventure I've been the more troublesome one out of the both of us. I've taken a lot of risks in my lifetime and though I believe that risks are only a perceived thing, the consequences from taking risks take a toll on your life from time to time. During these periods in time it can appear that the risk taker is actually making a lot of bad decisions, but in fact they are merely discovering new territory, much the same as a guy who builds airplanes for example. He builds the plane carefully and masterfully, crafting it and also crashing it when it is not built to perfection, only to start the process over again with new and improved knowledge and techniques. Finally he builds the perfect plane and is afforded the luxury of exponential travel and exploration. In order to arrive at his destination of unfettered travel however, many crash landings are endured. During my crashes, Trent has always been there willing to help me. I mentioned previously that mine and my step-dads relationship wasn't all that great. As a friend Trent would always take that fact, into consideration when helping me out of a jam. As an entrepreneur I cannot tell you how many times I have become without a home or down on my luck. My friend Trent Dewsnup however, has always been around to help me pick up the pieces of my broken planes and help put them back together. Its because of that I feel compelled to as this is my winning season, salute him!

Trent has always been an artist at heart. What started out as his passion for dance in high school—which incidentally introduced him to his wonderful wife Nicole. They met through the breakdancing school that Trent successfully ran after we both graduated high school. As I stated, I was the more troublesome one of us two, So he was busy starting a breakdancing school, I went to do some time in prison. But it was through that school, Breakaway School of Dance, that he met his now wife Nicole Dewsnup. In the spirit of risk and how it compliments reward, I guess you could say that their 3 wonderful sons Wade, Zane & Guage started to become a high probability at that point!

Also just as an artist at heart, Trent has taken on the role of being “The Man With the Brush“ who was successful nail technician during a season of his life. The artist aspect of the nail business is really fascinating too! Ladies did you know that you can actually embed a real 100 dollar bill into your nail? Trent could perform that procedure for you if you had caught him during that season!

Currently with the same heart of an artist, he is busy owning and operating a landscaping company, TD Official's Landscaping which do some really amazing work. Trent can basically transform your outdoor landscaping into whatever your heart desires, complete with all the bells and whistles! As a friend of mine however, he has definitely carefully manicured and watered and then tended to the relationship that we have built and because of that, I will always support everything that he endeavors to do with his time! Truth be told, were actually contemplating doing a little business together too in the near future. Whatever life brings I know for certain that this guy is going to be waiting for that quarterly check-in for a good beer and an even better conversation. Which will either be thick or thin, but whatever the case, I’m pretty sure I can count on that lasting for forever. ▪️