Member Spotlight
Growing up watching Bewitched, I knew I wanted to be Darren Stevens, so in college I studied creative writing and buyer behavior, then wound up doing Finance for the Auto Industry for 10 years… Life happened.
Inspired by a Zig Zigler book, I finally made the jump and went into Radio sales. That led into Broadcast Television and a 20-year career at an NBC Affiliate in El Paso, Texas, KTSM, where I retired and became a professional photographer. (I studied with our camera team).
One day driving home, a little white dog ran out in front of me. One slam of the brakes and both of our lives changed.
Gizmo and I began traveling and taking pictures. After a visit to a baseball stadium, I wrote a fun poem about it, asked my grandson to Illustrate it, and a Gizmo Goes idea was born…
Gizmo Goes to a Baseball Game was our first self-published book, followed by Gizmo Goes to Yellowstone then Gizmo Goes on the Christmas Express.
River, my grandson, Gizmo and I traveled to schools and did book reads. The books all received 5 Star Favorite Reviews and were gaining media attention.
Life happened again and I found myself driving to Dallas (my entire family is here) with Gizmo, my camera and a divorce decree…
After some travel time in Europe, Gizmo and I decided to stay in Dallas and call it home. That was right when COVID hit.
I unretired in 2021 with iHeartMedia in Market #4 Dallas, Texas. Not intimidating at all.
My Coworker, ET, told me about AWM, meeting the members and learning more about the DFW Media landscape has been the game changer. This business, and life itself, is about people, and AWM has some good ones!
Stay positive and don’t stop learning…
I’ve spent a lifetime learning from the biggest and best companies in the world. Heading into a 2nd retirement, I hope to build my own Empire.
After a rough month (starting over is not for beginners), I resubmitted my manuscripts to some publishers.
The Gizmo Goes books were picked up by Scholastic and relaunched, along with a 10 Book Deal – 😊 GizmoGoes.com