I was born on November 25th, 1988 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. You will read in one of my poems that the first thing I did was pee on the doctor (Lines of a Thriving Leaf, chapter "I'm More than Enough). But anyway, I grew up in the era where you identified the whereabouts of your friends by the bicycles that leaned against a tree in a park. An age where I couldn't go to a friend's house unless my parents checked that my homework was done. A time when I had a limited number of text messages in my family's phone plan and I would always go above the threshold; I would have to wait until after 9:00 PM for unlimited talking minutes.

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I was an A student because of my parents' insistence that I become successful. And although I'm not a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, I accomplished a lot. For instance, I was a soccer star and a goal-scorer. I loved taking three players on at a time and putting that ball in the upper-right corner. I became a three-time state champion in powerlifting and held the number one rank in the nation from 2007 until 2009 WITH TWO ROTATOR CUFF SURGERIES. I owe it all to my coach. Rest in peace old man.

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Then came college, where I began my studies as a biochemistry and molecular biology major. Organic Chemistry was a foreign language to me and I attempted the course twice before giving up. Then my father suggested I utilize my writing skills that I developed throughout high school and major in English. After switching my major and taking 18 credits in the summer to catch up, I graduated from Penn State University in 2011 with my bachelor's degree in English. After graduation, I intended to live out the American dream by owning a home, a car, being married, having children, and having the nicest looking lawn in the neighborhood. But I soon found out that my degree was useless.  Any companies that were hiring within my field of expertise required at least three years of experience. And so with a college education, I worked the following jobs up until 2015:

• Pharmacy Technician

• Third-Party Adjudicator for a long-term care pharmaceutical company

• Second Shift gym employee

• Event server at a hotel

• Assistance pre-school teacher

• Cashier at a small restaurant

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I must leave out the name of the employers out of respect.

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With minimum wage and dead-end jobs, I decided to pursue a career in education. I dedicate that decision to my former powerlifting coach as he was a great mentor to me. I'll never forget one of his many lectures: YOU'RE SQUATTING LIKE YOU HAVE A ROSE BUSH IN YOUR THONG! So I applied to Desales University to receive my teaching certification and passed the Praxis II, providing me with the ability to teach English in grades 6-12. Of course I had trouble finding a classroom in Pennsylvania, but I did a quick search for teaching jobs in southwest Florida and within just a few days, I was invited to an online interview; hours later, I received a phone call with a job offer. It was a dream of mine to live in Florida; the sight of the palm trees did wonders for me. So I packed up whatever I could in my car and a week later, I found myself in Naples.

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In 2015, I became an English teacher and taught a variety of course levels. After 11 years of dedication to the classroom, I resigned to pursue my dreams of owning my own business and publishing books. Well, my resignation came from something else, but again, out of respect, it's best not to make it public. It was very difficult to leave a career in which I had hoped to retire in, but I have been a writer since Kindergarten. My mother still has my material where I used to illustrate and write comic books. And now that I am much older and wiser (and still a big little kid), I focused my writing abilities through practice and practice. I wrote lyrics and even recorded demo mixtapes. I created research papers in college ranging from why the descriptions of "Beowulf" had limited details to how indirect feedback is the best method to increase standardized writing scores. I published a slam poetry book in 2012 under a vanity fair publishing company and then a novel in 2022 with a different company. I quickly learned that the royalties were not something I could life off of; I felt like I got ripped off. So what was stopping me from being an independent author and throwing myself out there? I was.

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And so in 2026, I created Default AntikQs LLC to own every step that I make. Fun fact: I originally wanted to name this company "Academic AntikQs", but I felt that my personality fit better under the term "Default AntikQs" (antics) to represent my main characteristic of being silly. This is a new start for me at 37 years old. I have a home, I have a wife, and instead of children (in due time), I have too many dogs. So my story has just begun and I don't see an ending anytime soon. A toast, to hereby display my visions in open pages, for anybody who dares to open my books.