HONESTY + PERSISTENCE + OPTIMISM

Lessons learned on a rural Oregon boysenberry farm

It was 1988 and three acres on the front side of our rural Redland, Oregon property, once home to grazing horses, had sat vacant for the previous several years and served as only a green space buffer between our house and the country road that ran parallel to it. That year also marked the beginning of my more formative years, and coincidentally also the start of my parents’ grass roots project to fill the vacant acreage with something more productive. In an area of countryside more known for its rollings hills of Christmas tree farms and pear orchards, mom and dad decided to buck the trend and planted 40, 300 ft. long rows of young boysenberry plants. For the subsequent six years, the Adams family, for all intents and purposes, were Boysenberry Farmers.

Each summer weekend during those years, my well planned, end-of-the-school-year goals to play harder and sleep longer, were replaced with a new schedule. I woke up with the sunrise, strapped two saddle-bag positioned buckets with rope to my sides, dragged my heavy legs and half open eyes out to the field, and harvested along side the other hired workers until the midday sun grew so hot that it either began to ‘juice’ the berries or wilt the workers (often times, both). As years passed, my desire to be doing something (well, anything) else during those hot summer weekends were slowly replaced with a new outlook — feelings of accomplishment for a job well done, a recognition that good things do come from hard, honest work, and learning that approaching a new challenge with optimism can help point our brains in the right direction. In retrospect, I’ve learned that it was these early life experiences that helped build the foundation from which I lead my life and now desire to help others meet their goals.

For 25 years I’ve successfully built and lead creative teams, helped startups get their branding legs under them, and lead established companies through rebranding strategies. My experience spans the gamut — from video art direction to website design to new company naming and developed logo trademarks. Regardless of the design or branding challenge, I approach each with what are now my core values: hard work, honesty, persistence, and optimism, believing that this new challenge will yield the best ‘fruit’ yet.