Simple, yet elegant. Not to mention heavy. The USA Track & Field (USATF) Wing Award is an impressive piece of custom recognition. The alluring, 24k gold-plated pewter form is an extruded representation of the brand’s unique winged-star logo.

You are the President of Society Awards, a company that you actually founded. Take us through your average work day.
This is not going to sound as exciting as it is. Just imagine that between the lines here, I’m meeting with interesting clients, we’re making the impossible happen repeatedly, we’re ideating and executing exhilarating marketing projects, we’re expanding business for ourselves and our clients – there’s constant growth.  Most of what I do is make beautiful sculpture, and market beautiful luxury brands. And lots of tiny details in between that’s really the heart of “doing the impossible.” Dreaming it up is one field, then getting down to an almost military-like discipline in setting about to do everything necessary to successfully bring the awesome dreams to reality is another skill. I work hard to be on both sides of that bridge every day.  

What did you study in college? What was your first job coming out of school?
My study in college was Economics, although I spent the majority of my four years managing a store on campus.  It was a lot more fun.  My first job was international expatriate compensation consulting (yawn.) I worked with multinational companies to come up with cost of living adjustments for employees who were working abroad to make sure that they could maintain the same standard of living as they would at home, adjusting for exchange rate changes, inflation rates, even lifestyle changes (for example, in Lagos Nigeria all expats have to hire a driver to safely get around.)

For the fourth year in a row, Society Awards has been included in the Inc. 500|5000 List!

As the luxury manufacturing and design boutique behind the world’s most iconic honors, we have garnered an array of prominent clientele, ranging from famous artists to distinguished brands and organizations over the years.

Where does your inspiration come from?

It varies. Usually for award designs, my inspiration comes from architecture. After I become inspired, I try to figure out each brand’s purpose. I look at their logo, research the brand, and then combine it with Society Awards’ vision.

What do you do when you reach a creative roadblock?

The good thing about Society Awards is that we have a lot of projects going on at the same time. If I notice that something is not working for me creatively, I just switch to another project. I try to distance myself from it then come back to it to see how it goes.