I'm a massive introvert, I don't even know who I am and what I am capable of yet let alone anyone else knowing. Even my closest family. Not in any negative way, I just haven't ever sat and done this sort of thing before, and this is a bit of a weird way to start.
Who am I?......... Husband.......... Father............ those parts are definitely the most important, they are everything to me.
Those two items are my guiding light. My wife and my kids are my world. Everything else fits around them........... thats why I'm not your 'A' typical business man or entrepreneur. I don't spend all day, everyday in an office building an empire but I am always trying to make a 'better life' for us all I suppose.
So I work to provide, like all of us all of the time. But at the same time I want to enjoy what I'm doing, I want to create something ......to eventually leave something behind, a business, designs, a legacy of sorts.
I'm not the sort of person who says that thinking that they are going to leave behind something life changing, like inventing a medical device that save thousands if not millions of lives. No, I mean I want to feel, that I've enjoyed my work, built a business, helped other businesses, provided though leadership in my field and may have built a name for myself in the end that I and my family can be proud of.
So, I'm a Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Businessman, IT Specialist, Designer, Everton Fan (Big Passion of mine), F1 Motorsport fan, Music lover of a fairly broad mix, love comedy shows and films of all kinds...........um.
Let's go back on this somewhat cathartic journey to where I first grew up.....born in the latter part of the 70's in Chard, Somerset, in the South West of England; I don't remember a huge amount of my time in Chard, we left when I was five and made our way to Southport in Merseyside, where my passion for Everton FC began.
Spiderman and Batman ran out from a back garden and ran across the street....
My first memory of Southport is pulling up in the road for the first time and as we pulled up Spiderman and Batman ran out from a back garden and ran across the street.....two kids that I would soon make friends with. Now that was a weird thing to see as you pull up to your new house filled with all kinds of emotions of change.
I lived in Southport until I went to University and during that time my love of Design really flourished.
Fast forward to High School and my GCSE Art classes, we did some fairly dull elements of art, drew some shoes, arranged some vases and drew those with charcoal - you know the deal.
and wow that was it for me.
Then my art teacher introduced something new..... Pop Art. We studied Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, all good but then.....
Roy Lichtenstein and wow that was it for me. I was lost for weeks if not months in studying TAKKA TAKKA and that led me to exploring graphic styles, logos, colour theory and really disappearing into Graphic Design.
A-Level Art, was not however a great experience - and I think this came down to my teacher, they were not particularly interested in my passion for Graphic Design and Graphic Art and so many of the work assignments were very focussed on fine art, which I don't dislike, its just not my passion.
A highlight of my A-level art experience was my first ever trip to London, which seems weird given how close I live to London nw and how matter of fact a trip to London is. We stayed in the middle of Piccadilly Circus and I remember being amazed that it really didn't take that long to walk to other landmarks. Who knew!
It was one of those fork in the road moments.
So my A-Level experience led me to consider going to Art College instead and focus on Graphic Design only, but decided against it and persevered.
It was one of those fork in the road moments. In hindsight that A-Level experience was the beginning of me falling out of love with Art & Design for a while.
And that leads me to my university options. So another fork in the road presented itself to me, between Nene College in Northampton studying Graphic Design and Staffs Uni Studying Geography and Computing, two very different paths and wait for it............ I ended up choosing the non Art route. I went to Staffs Uni and if I hadn't I have no idea what I would be like now, where I would be and what I would be doing.
Oddly, moving away from the formal Art & Design route ended up giving me an opportunity to fall in love with Art and Design all over again through beginning to educate myself, I picked up my pencil again, grabbed my sketch book and just enjoyed it in my leisure time.
I became heavily involved in the Student Union, I worked on Summer Balls first, then as a venue tech and moved on to being a DJ in the main venue at the University and the night clubs of Stoke on Trent, playing to 4000 people every week. I also got involved in Graphic Design at the Student Union.
However, what I didn't do was come out of University with a qualification.
I fused my IT career with my love of design
Following University and a period of time working for the Student Union full time, we moved to Reading and I started my 20 year (and counting) career in IT as a Support Desk Engineer, Software Test Manager, Delivery Manager and IT Governance Manager, all the while my sketch book was not far away and when I fused my IT career with my love of design I self taught myself Graphic & Web Design using digital tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Over the years I made a number of websites, brochures, logos but nothing really more than that.
Varoom.Media is born and I am now actively creating numerous Websites, managing website content, Social Media content, creating videos and podcasts and developing Brand Strategies and Brand Identities for my clients
come and join us.