One Of The Reasons I Started Opinion

Not many people know this, but growing up I was OBSSESED with skateboarding.

I got a rocket power skateboard for my birthday one year. One of those Target boards that didn’t even roll because the bearings were so bad, but that was enough to have me hooked.

I still remember getting my first real skateboard so vividly. It was a world industry board, with royal trucks and spitfire wheels, and that thing from that day on didn’t leave my sight.

I skated for hours upon hours every single day. Knowing that there were so many tricks that could be done, my room for improvement was endless, and that’s something that I absolutely loved. Get a trick down, find the next one to do.

I then had this dream and goal to get sponsored. I had it in my brain that if I could get sponsored by McDonalds, I would get a free lunch every day.

I skated so much in my parents driveway, that my neighbor came over and offered to give me rides to the skatepark so he didn’t have to listen to the pop of the board for 8 hours a day.

I loved skating so much, it was me vs. me, I progressed as much as I worked, and that’s something that drove me every day.

I had made so much progress over the years of skateboarding and was pretty good! Not get sponsored good, but I could hold my own at the skatepark.

During my entire time of skateboarding, someone close to me would constantly tell me that I wasn’t good, and that I was wasting my time with skateboarding.

This over time convinced me that they were right, and I gave up skateboarding.

That feeling of being pushed out of something you love, not because you stopped loving it, but because someone made you feel like you didn’t belong, stuck with me for years.

This is where Opinion came to fruition. I wanted to create something that tells the opposite story, a brand built to remind people they don’t need permission. That chasing your dream, expressing yourself, trying something new, all of it, is valid.

You don’t need to be “good enough” by someone else’s standard.
You just need to be you.

And if I can help even one person feel like they do belong, that their voice and style and journey matter, then it was all worth it.

Chase dreams. Not Approval.