Hi, I'm Mark.
My mission is to make the world a better, more enjoyable, and thoughtful place by creating fun, philosophical, and emotionally-moving stories, and art, clothing, and merchandise related to those stories.
My vision is that I create what I like and get paid to do it by people who love it, and in doing so I inspire more people to do their own thing, their way. In some small way, I hope it helps make the world a more enjoyable place to exist on and prove that God exists.
I was born in Jersey and grew up all over the place. I'm the middle youngest of 4. 2 sisters and 1 brother. My sisters, like my dad, are dark, and my brother and I (like my mom), are lighter. I went to 5 elementary and 3 high schools across both coasts. My parents did their best to give me and my siblings the best life possible as most parents do. It was interesting growing up in a multi-race, multilingual home where diversity was literally just "home."
Anyway - I enlisted in the Marines right out of high school in SoCal. During my enlistment, I decided I'd go to college after my contract was up. I was a Meteorological and Oceanographic Analyst and Forecaster. I was determined to go to the best university I could think of to make my dreams of making comics and manga a reality.
My job in the Corps was a very technical office role - data/chart analyses and briefing information to pilots, officers, etc., and working with foreign outfits in different countries. The art school of my dreams told me I needed to prove that I could learn in a classroom setting by attending an accredited university, so I did.
While attending the "prove myself" university, I learned a lot and fell in love with my school. The professors were great and the Veteran's Office people were super helpful. I discovered that my actual passion was and always had been telling fun and interesting stories with some cool visuals. The art was just one way of telling stories people can feel and think about--the kind of stuff that changes you a little, like the Twilight Zone, Trigun, Yuyu Hakusho, Pokémon (grew up on the games; they were very philosophical, especially Diamond, Pearl, and my fav's Platinum, B/W/B2/W2) and many others did for me. I ended up sticking with the accredited university and majoring in Communications and Media Studies with a minor in Digital Humanities.
I loved my experience so I matriculated, and pursued my MBA at my alma mater.
I showed up in person and took the maximum course load for 3 years and completed both degrees within the 36 month period covered by the GI Bill. Got my BA with honors and missed honors by a thin margin for my masters. Truth be told, I also had a lot going and taking the max course load of graduate classes was a little overwhelming. I studied the hardest for my Statistics and Economics classes; spent like 6 to 7 hours sometimes copying textbook chapters by hand to make sure I at least memorized what I didn't understand. It was like doing military drills and getting the repetition in to let the autopilot instincts do their thing whenever the information was relevant.
Aside from having a second shoulder surgery while getting into grad school and going a little crazy on the alcohol and painmeds, it wasn't too bad.
Side note here regarding booze, shrooms, weed, and pills: Nowadays I'm sober and vegan-ish. Long story, but I alcohol and meat just stopped tasting right, and I just kind of gravitated toward being sober and eating mainly vegetables and plant-based proteins. I still consume dairy - I love cheese, and put whole milk in my coffee, so I say "vegan-ish," but vegetarian is probably more accurate. Fish and chicken have been making me nauseous, and red meat just smells weird to me. Kind of happened it overnight. I also have different GI stuff so it might be related. Idk and don't need to question it too much. I feel better and feel clearer so it works for me.
Anyway, I did the multiple states and elementary schools and high schools instability stuff, the Marine stuff, the school stuff, and worked at tons of places: door to door sales, banking, even cofounded and automation consulting business, and other stuff. I had a medical thing in 2022 that felt serious, but it wasn't. Actually, as of Wednesday, September 16, 2026, I was completely cleared by my neurologist. But, I re-examined how I was living due to that shakeup. All of that led to this.
It was a lot of bullshit to be honest. It wasn't fun or preferable, but I addressed things I didn't even know bothered me, and also go re-acquainted with myself. It was a year long ordeal of basically losing my mind, being celibate, going to therapy, and going through a bunch of shit: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, self-worth stuff, and just being "lost to find myself" kind of stuff. I hated going through it, but that version of me was killing me and needed to die so I could re-align with my essence; ego death is probably the best way to put it, which ironically led to me discovering my actual ego - all four parts of it: the good, the neutral, the ambiguous, and the bad. I don't wish that experience on anyone.
Three great things came out of it though:
- The best thing: This.
Pulling the trigger on this and getting clear about my goals. I want to make the world a better place in my own way and lead people to some sort of faith in God because finding my own faith has helped me. I also want to write 100 books: novels, graphic novels, and/or comics while making cool things related to those works. (I also have an app that's not at all related to this stuff that I want to publish once the legal stuff is in order)
- Second best thing: Unlikely inspiration.
Finding inspiration in Ariana Grande as a person. I am a huge hiphop head, but during my shit, some of her songs got me through the day: "Yes, And?", "No Tears Left to Cry," and stuff like that. I love rap and hiphop, and that used to be my fallback, but as a man, I can only listen to other men for so long before I put on instrumentals. Anyway, while I identify with a lot of rappers, I found their shit just brought me down and made me feel worse, same with certain rock that I like.
As far as Ariana Grande, I didn't like any of her stuff at first. During therapy and my rough time, I fell into her music. It made me feel good vibe-wise. Hard to explain since I didn't always get it lyrically, but emotionally, I felt feels. I researched her when she got the Glinda role since WICKED was the first play I ever saw at 14. Ariana Grande has always been pretty hot. Her playing a hot blonde magical woman in the first play I saw was hot to me in a way I couldn't really predict or make sense of. Anyway, during my research, I identified with some of the personal struggles she mentioned regarding mental health. I see her as a badass in many ways. I'm a huge fan of her as a person; her music doesn't always land for me, but I loved Petal and some of her newer stuff. I concluded, if she can go through all she's been through, and still make good vibes like that, then I can deal with what comes with doing something I actually want to do. Add to that her philanthropic stuff, her 4-octave vocal range, her charitable stuff, her acting, and her 40+ world records, and her beauty brand REM. To me, she's the epitome of talent, skill, genius, resilience, and courage despite her very messy stuff. I'm not perfect and I don't have the desire to make my public. I would never want to be famous either. I do not at all want any semblance of a life in the public eye where anyone and everyone has access.
- Last good thing, but also the foundation of all this: Unconditional Love and Faith.
I always wanted to do this, and eventually was going to get to it once I got over my doubt, insecurity, and lack of self belief, and personal faithlessness. I met someone who I have no words for. She inspired me in a way I couldn't fathom and literally saved my life. I call her, "Barbie Miami." I would have taken forever to go to therapy and commit to it long enough to make decisive plans if I never met Barbie. I am very thankful. Meeting that woman led me to appreciating Ariana Grande songs in the first place and just all sorts of very personal stuff that makes things that would normally be a big deal, like judgement or criticism or certain types of things seem pointless to worry about.
Thanks if you read this far down.
Everything here — the writing, the illustrations, the store itself — is my work. No ghostwriters, no studio, no team. I use AI for parts of the process, and I say so plainly wherever it applies. The ideas, the words, the art: mine. I did this solo with the occasional purchase from a friend and some nice words from relatives. Definitely hasn't been easy and I've gotten a lot of upfront criticism, along with the people who lurk and spy just to see what I'm doing, and do the subtle mocking thing. Which is fine. I went through the same thing before enlisting in the Marines and different stuff. Success only needs to happen once even if it requires a lot of guessing, testing, and re-iterating. I'd rather be the person spending their time doing what they dream of than the one spending their time observing them. Seems like a painful waste of time.
Anyway, this is still the early stage. If you're here at the start and have been here watching the foundation get laid in real time, thanks.
Feel free to share any feedback, suggestions, or input. Doing all of this alone has been a huge upheaval. I've gotten a few customers and some nice, heartfelt, motivating emails and messages. It goes a long way.
Side note here: When I enlisted, I had someone tell me day and night for months that I would never make it through bootcamp much less the Marine Corps itself, and when I got through bootcamp they were the first in line to tell me, "I knew you always could. You did it." If you're that kind of person, and you're reading this, and think you can wait and show up after it's "something valuable", thanks in advance. You knew I could, like I always did. It's only valuable because you weren't part of it. That is a blessing for both of us. No need to fake the funk once people are wearing my stuff and my books are bestsellers and my art is beloved internationally, and I'm a global creative phenomenon making cool, fun, and interesting stuff that people love.
Anyway, my biggest hurdle atm is the social media component. If you read all this and want to get/wear free stuff and market it with an affiliate link reach out, especially if your Barbie or the literal queen of talent. Here's my Linktree. DM me on IG or just use the "Need Help?" icon on this site. Bonus points if you meet me in FFXIV (also in my linktree).