Tommy Walker

From promoting the music video I made while working at a gas station, to running publications for fast-growing tech startups and Fortune 500 companies, I've been doing some form of online marketing for the past 15 years.

But that's not where it started. Originally, I was a career actor, having trained to find that balance between drama and comedy. It was only after graduating from the New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, moving home, getting kicked out of my house (What?! I knew everything at 20!), and landing myself on buddy's couch that I found my love for online marketing.

The story goes like this. While I was paying $100/month in rent for the couch, I worked at the gas station across the street. Knowing this would be one of the only opportunities I'd have to meet people from all walks of life, I did my best to be friendly with everyone.

Ultimately, this lead to two things:

1. Meeting a band who would let me shoot their music video for them (more on that later)
2. Getting recruited into my first tech startup

I followed the band around for a Summer and recorded everything knowing I'd cut it together to make a music video to promote their upcoming release. I remember thinking, "If nobody sees this then the whole summer would have been for nothing." so I learned all sorts of ways to promote it.

Back at the gas station, a recruiter from a local tech startup said they liked my personality and thought I should work for them. I became a part of their 3 person marketing department that brought them from $1mm to $5mm in revenue in the year.

After that year I left. The money made them lose their integrity. And so, it was back to the gas station and eventually selling cell phones.

The cell phone job got cut short after a silly incident involving a pair of pants (which we should talk about at some point) that lead to me getting fired for the first time since I started working at 13.

I knew I could do better, so I bet on myself. I took my laptop with a crack in the screen from corner to corner and got to work. Two weeks later, on January 24th, 2009, I got my first client.

Ever since, I've had opportunities that have allowed me to travel the world, work with Emmy Award winners and New York Times published authors, and some of the smartest minds in fintech and ecommerce.

I've built publishing operations that have generated millions in revenue and have scaled to markets around the world. I'm grateful for how far I've come, and am excited about what comes next.