Michael Raashad McGuire | Operator, Founder & Software Builder

Now2026 – Present

System Administrator. Life and Favor Home Care

Remote from March 2026 · Indianapolis, IN from July · Present

Brought in by ownership to scale the business. I scoped the engagement directly with the owners and shareholders, delivered past the original scope, and was retained as salaried System Administrator over the systems I built. They called me; I hadn't applied.

Before: intake was done by hand. Documents were printed and filed in a cabinet. If somebody needed a record after 5pm, they waited until morning and drove to the office for it.

Now: every document, client and employee, is in the cloud. Intake, onboarding and every page behind them are digital, end to end. I executed the AWS migration myself, data migration, HIPAA-aligned access controls, encryption, audit logging, with no interruption to client service at cutover, and implemented HubSpot CRM and Slack as the core operating systems.

Onboarding used to be long and heavy enough that people dreaded it. I rebuilt it to one executable. Run it, and the hire is onboarded.

I designed and staffed the back-office administration function around all of it, including hands-on training for people who had never used a CRM, and I run the systems, the staff scheduling and the client records as administrator.

AWS
HIPAA
Cloud migration
HubSpot
SOP development
Change management

How I work

I like to understand the whole plan and how everything should work effectively. What are we trying to accomplish? Who is doing the work? What is making the outcome harder than it needs to be to achieve? I ask questions, spend time with the people involved, both stakeholder and end user, and learn what is happening day to day to reach that special space in the middle where everyone is happy. That is how I figure out where the real meat and potatoes are.

I have started in entry-level management more than once, learning systems while using them. POS, inventory, payroll, scheduling, whatever the job needed. As my knowledge grew, my responsibilities grew, and before I knew it I was also managing budgets, working with vendors, and making decisions I had to follow through on. That experience shapes how I approach technology today. I care about what happens after something is built, when people actually have to depend on it.

Chick-fil-A is a great example of what I appreciate in an operation. The people know what they are doing, the process makes sense, and the system keeps moving even when it is busy, rain, sleet, or snow. Those are the type of details I pay attention to. I look for the glue in the seam. How is the team organized? What information do they have? What makes the experience feel easy for the customer? Those are the questions I bring into my own work.

Give me an idea, a problem, or something you are still trying to figure out, and I will work through it with you. I can research it, scope it, build it, and help people get comfortable using it. If the budget or circumstances change, we figure out what is still possible and adjust. I enjoy bringing the pieces together and seeing something we talked about become something we can actually use.

Most companies outgrow their own systems a year before anybody says it out loud. That gap is the work.

$634K

Capital recovered

70,000

Units, first run

Brands launched

The rebuild2021 – 2024

Roll & Smoke · Killer Coney Island · Shop Hookah Headz

Co-Founder & Co-Owner · Atlanta, GA & Detroit, MI · 2022–2024

A $1M hospitality business collapsed in thirty days. I had the portable hookah line designed already. I identified and filed the unclaimed Employee Retention Credits sitting in its payroll records and financed the production run with them, $634,000, paid in tranches across 2022 and 2023. Non-dilutive. No investor.

The portable hookah line went from concept to sell-out: product design, manufacturer sourcing, packaging dielines, pricing, southern U.S. distribution. First production run of 70,000 units sold out in one summer, peaking at 500 units a day in the French Quarter.

Shop Hookah Headz launched end to end and under budget, brand identity, packaging design, multi-SKU production, live e-commerce, marketing creative. Killer Coney reached a signed letter of intent on 3,600 square feet on Woodward Avenue.

Capital formation
Product development
Manufacturer sourcing
Packaging dielines
E-commerce
Distribution

Roll & Smoke, the 70,000-unit run2021

Roll & Smoke, plate 50 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 50

Roll and Smoke retail box held at the warehouse — **Production** · the run, at the warehouse

Boxed inventory stacked at the warehouse — **Freight** · pallets in

Roll and Smoke carton instruction panel — **Carton back** · how to roll and smoke

Portable hookah unit, four colorways — **The unit** · four-colorway range

Portable hookah unit, five colorways — **The unit** · full color range

Roll & Smoke, plate 1 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 01

Roll & Smoke, plate 2 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 02

Roll & Smoke, plate 4 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 04

Roll & Smoke, plate 5 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 05

Roll & Smoke, plate 7 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 07

Roll & Smoke, plate 8 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 08

Roll & Smoke, plate 10 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 10

Roll & Smoke, plate 12 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 12

Roll & Smoke, plate 13 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 13

Roll & Smoke, plate 15 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 15

Roll & Smoke, plate 16 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 16

Roll & Smoke, plate 18 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 18

Roll & Smoke, plate 19 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 19

Roll & Smoke, plate 20 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 20

Roll & Smoke, plate 21 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 21

Roll & Smoke, plate 22 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 22

Roll & Smoke, plate 23 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 23

Roll & Smoke, plate 24 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 24

Roll & Smoke, plate 25 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 25

Roll & Smoke, plate 26 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 26

Roll & Smoke, plate 27 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 27

Roll & Smoke, plate 28 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 28

Roll & Smoke, plate 29 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 29

Roll & Smoke, plate 31 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 31

Roll & Smoke, plate 32 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 32

Roll & Smoke, plate 35 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 35

Roll & Smoke, plate 36 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 36

Roll & Smoke, plate 37 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 37

Roll & Smoke, plate 38 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 38

Roll & Smoke, plate 40 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 40

Roll & Smoke, plate 41 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 41

Roll & Smoke, plate 44 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 44

Roll & Smoke, plate 45 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 45

Roll & Smoke, plate 46 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 46

Roll & Smoke, plate 47 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 47

Roll & Smoke, plate 48 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 48

Roll & Smoke, plate 49 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 49

Roll & Smoke, plate 51 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 51

Roll & Smoke, plate 52 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 52

Roll & Smoke, plate 53 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 53

Roll & Smoke, plate 54 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 54

Roll & Smoke, plate 55 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 55

Roll & Smoke, plate 56 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 56

Roll & Smoke, plate 57 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 57

Roll & Smoke, plate 58 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 58

Roll & Smoke, plate 59 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 59

Roll & Smoke, plate 60 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 60

Roll & Smoke, plate 62 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 62

Roll & Smoke, plate 63 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 63

Roll & Smoke, plate 64 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 64

Roll & Smoke, plate 65 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 65

Roll & Smoke, plate 66 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 66

Roll & Smoke, plate 67 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 67

Roll & Smoke, plate 68 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 68

Roll & Smoke, plate 69 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 69

Roll & Smoke, plate 70 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 70

Roll & Smoke, plate 72 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 72

Roll & Smoke, plate 73 — **Roll & Smoke** · plate 73

Concept, product design, manufacturer sourcing, dielines, pricing, southern U.S. distribution. First run of 70,000 units sold out in one summer.

Killer Coney Island2023

Killer Coney Island, plate 7 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 07

Killer Coney wings and marketing plan pages — **Brand book** · wings, and the marketing plan

Killer Coney no-tipping model page — **No tipping** · the model, with the data

Killer Coney menu pages — **Menu** · sandwiches, brunch, the bar

Killer Coney hot dog menu page — **The dawgs** · six builds, named

Killer-Aid cup render — **Killer-Aid** · the drink mark

Killer Coney Island, plate 2 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 02

Killer Coney Island, plate 3 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 03

Killer Coney Island, plate 4 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 04

Killer Coney Island, plate 5 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 05

Killer Coney Island, plate 6 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 06

Killer Coney Island, plate 8 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 08

Killer Coney Island, plate 9 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 09

Killer Coney Island, plate 10 — **Killer Coney Island** · plate 10

The brand book end to end: category thesis, market sizing, full menu architecture, packaging system, marketing plan, and a no-tipping model argued from the data (72% of American customers are uncomfortable with tip suggestions; servers paid above the legal rate with a service charge instead). Signed LOI on 3,600 SF, Woodward Avenue.

Detroit Daiquiri House, the build-out at 14131 Woodward2024

This is what the landlord handed me to work zoning against. The existing stamped set for the Highland Park space, site plan and scope, plumbing supply, kitchen exhaust and hood ventilation with the full BTU and CFM schedule, equipment schedule, ADA requirements. Drawn by LSA Inc. for the prior tenant.

My job was to read it and price the deal against it: what the existing hood and gas service would carry, what the bar addition did to the plumbing, how the seating count landed against occupancy, what had to be redrawn before anything could be permitted. A letter of intent on 3,600 SF is a number on paper until somebody reads the mechanical plan.

Site & scope
Plumbing
Kitchen exhaust
Equipment schedule
ADA
Build cost

Title sheet and site plan, 14131 Woodward Avenue — **Title sheet** · site plan and scope

Plumbing supply plan with the new bar addition — **Plumbing** · supply plan, bar addition

Kitchen exhaust system plan and hood sections — **Kitchen exhaust** · hood sections, CFM

Equipment schedule and fixture elevations — **Equipment** · schedule and elevations

Four sheets, Highland Park, Michigan. The landlord's existing set, drawn by LSA Inc., read, priced and negotiated against.

The run, on video2021

The carton · retail packaging, in hand

Product · campaign cut

Social reel · the campaign library in motion

Three clips, same stack. Shot and cut in house.

Shop Hookah Headz2023

Hookah Headz Open Late campaign creative — **Shop the drop** · open late, free shipping

Hookah Headz Shop Now FREESHIP creative — **Shop now** · the code, the month

Hookah Headz Good Smoke product creative — **Good smoke** · the bowl, packed

Hookah Headz Click the Link campaign creative — **Click the link** · “Don’t be the last man standing”

Hookah Headz smoke campaign creative — **Campaign still** · the exhale

Hookah Headz thank-you campaign creative — **Post-purchase** · thank you, with the code

Hookah Headz orange flavor campaign creative — **Flavor tie-in** · the orange SKU, on the beach

Shop Hookah Headz full pack lineup render — **The line** · six SKUs, resealable pouches

Shop Hookah Headz printed pack in hand — **In hand** · printed pack, Kama Sutra

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 1 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 01

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 2 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 02

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 3 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 03

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 4 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 04

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 5 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 05

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 6 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 06

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 7 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 07

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 8 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 08

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 9 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 09

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 42 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 42

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 43 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 43

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 45 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 45

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 46 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 46

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 47 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 47

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 48 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 48

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 49 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 49

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 50 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 50

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 51 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 51

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 52 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 52

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 53 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 53

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 58 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 58

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 59 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 59

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 60 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 60

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 61 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 61

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 63 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 63

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 64 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 64

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 65 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 65

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 67 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 67

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 68 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 68

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 10 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 10

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 19 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 19

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 119 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 119

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 69 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 69

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 70 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 70

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 71 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 71

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 72 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 72

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 73 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 73

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 80 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 80

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 81 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 81

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 82 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 82

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 83 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 83

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 84 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 84

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 86 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 86

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 87 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 87

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 88 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 88

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 91 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 91

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 93 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 93

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 94 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 94

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 95 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 95

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 96 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 96

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 97 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 97

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 100 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 100

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 102 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 102

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 105 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 105

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 109 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 109

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 111 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 111

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 112 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 112

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 114 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 114

Shop Hookah Headz, plate 121 — **Shop Hookah Headz** · plate 121

It started as a cost line. We were spending thousands a month on shisha for the lounges, so we made our own and sold it. Brand identity, packaging with compliant warning panels, multi-SKU production, a live storefront and the full campaign library, end to end, under budget. The storefront UX, the on-page search setup and every piece of campaign creative in this stack are mine. I wasn’t chasing a follower count, I was chasing orders.

For me to continue, I need equity, profit, design rights, ownership. The terms, 2022. IP valued at parity with the cash investment

Before the rebuild2004 – 2022

True Life Management

Founder · 2004–2010

Structured as a REIT. Raised capital, deployed it into residential real estate across Michigan and Ohio, and lost the portfolio when the credit markets closed in 2008. Twenty-two years later I'm still raising capital, different instruments, same instinct for finding the money a situation actually has available to it.

Hookah by Cece

Project Manager, Business Restructuring · Atlanta, GA · 2020–2022

Brought in to scale a hookah operation running 90-plus staff at a time, the vendor for Harold's, Cirque, Energy Daiquiri House, and private events across the city. Edgewood at peak COVID, when Atlanta tourism was running hot and everybody in that corridor was overstaffed and flush. It averaged $100,000 a month and peaked at $90,000 in a single week, and I will tell you straight that the market inflated those numbers as much as we did.

The business was running ahead of its own paperwork. I rebuilt the back office, corrected the entity and banking setup, put process and system discipline around 90 people, cut waste and made the vendor spend legible. When the financing ran out I went into the payroll records, found the unclaimed Employee Retention Credits, and filed. I recovered the company on the condition that I came in as a co-owner, not a consultant.

The best decision I made there was a margin decision. We were paying thousands a month for shisha. So we made our own, packaged it to compliance, and sold it, that is Shop Hookah Headz. The single biggest line in cost of goods became a product line.

Hookah by Cece, plate 5 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 05

Hookah by Cece portable unit in hand — **Hookah 2 Go** · the unit, branded

Hookah by Cece, plate 1 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 01

Hookah by Cece, plate 2 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 02

Hookah by Cece, plate 4 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 04

Hookah by Cece, plate 6 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 06

Hookah by Cece, plate 7 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 07

Hookah by Cece, plate 8 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 08

Hookah by Cece, plate 9 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 09

Hookah by Cece, plate 10 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 10

Hookah by Cece, plate 11 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 11

Hookah by Cece, plate 12 — **Hookah by Cece** · plate 12

Restructuring, brand system and the guest experience program for a 90-plus employee operation.

Breaking Bread2022

Breaking Bread, plate 18 — **Breaking Bread** · plate 18

Identity, menu architecture and campaign creative.

Soap & Bubbles2022

Soap & Bubbles, plate 3 — **Soap & Bubbles** · plate 03

Soap & Bubbles, plate 1 — **Soap & Bubbles** · plate 01

Pet grooming brand, identity and illustration system.

B+D+W, Burgers + Dogs + Wings2020 – 2021

B+D+W cover board — **Cover** · “There’s a new kitchen in town”

B+D+W mission statement board — **The mission** · the standard, written down

B+D+W market sizing board — **Market case** · why this category

B+D+W marketing strategy board — **Go-to-market** · launch strategy and guarantees

B+D+W milkshake and malt menu board — **Shakes & malts** · sixteen named flavors

B+D+W arcade and family space board — **The floor** · arcade, family, late

B+D+W growth projection board — **Growth** · the traffic thesis

B+D+W wings menu and pricing board — **Wings** · by the pack, priced

B+D+W brunch menu board — **Brunch** · weekend menu and hours

B+D+W bar program board — **Bar** · taps, cocktails, open til 2am

A whole concept, built before a dollar was spent

Concept, brand and business design · defunded pre-launch

Mine end to end, the name, the mark, the menu, the price points, the market case and the deck that carried it. Three staples nobody treats as a category, put under one roof with an arcade in it.

The boards run the whole argument. 6.48 million bad burgers sold a day, $37B spent on wings, 20.7 billion hot dogs, then what we would do differently and what it would cost. Wings by the pack at $9, $13 and $22. Brunch Friday to Sunday with the hours and the prices on the page. Sixteen shakes and malts, every one named. Five local taps per site because every market is different.

A hundred-per-cent money-back guarantee, the app shipping the day the doors open, and free fries and drinks for healthcare workers through the first ninety days, that one was written in 2021 and I would keep it.

It got defunded before it opened. The boards are still the answer to “what does a finished concept look like before anybody spends money.”

Concept
Brand system
Menu architecture
Pricing
Market sizing
Go-to-market

Trap BurgerSeptember 2025

Built from the name down

Detroit, MI · September 2025 · concept, brand and launch · live site

My concept. I secured the location and built the brand from the mark down. The OG Trappers line-up is eleven named builds. The 517 at five dollars for locals, The Motor City on a half pound of corned beef, The Philly, The Brooklyn, The ATL, The Westside, each one a city, each one a recipe, priced to be ordered by name.

Identity, product photography direction, menu architecture, the board, and the live site. The customer prompt on the menu is the part I'd keep: "Got an OG Trap Burger suggestion? Email us the burger and the toppings. If selected, free burgers for you all month."

My first project alone, after the Detroit separation. While I was saving for the build I found Roll & Smoke inventory and ran a pop-up at the location that did well. Then I lost the equipment at the site, and I did not have the capital to pursue it. I let the project go. I have not worked in the service industry since.

Concept
Brand system
Menu architecture
Naming
E-commerce
Launch

The 517 burger — **The 517** · always $5 for locals

OG Trappers menu board — **OG Trappers** · the board

The Jack burger — **The Jack** · made to order

The Ganson burger — **The Ganson** · chopped, mozzarella

The Ceal burger — **The Ceal** · caramelized onion

The Mike burger — **The Mike** · jalapeño, bacon

The Land burger — **The Land** · fried mozzarella, A1

The ATL chicken sandwich — **The ATL** · hot honey

The Philly cheesesteak — **The Philly** · sirloin and ribeye

The Brooklyn chopped cheese — **The Brooklyn** · chopped cheese

The Motor City corned beef — **The Motor City** · half pound of corned beef

The Westside pita wrap — **The Westside** · pita

Eleven named builds, one board, one live storefront. Every city on the menu is a city I've worked in.

Nimble2023

Nimble, an Airtel

Short-stay hospitality · brand and positioning · 2023

A category word as the product. An Airtel: hotel-standard accommodation at a short-let address. The thesis is that home-sharing won on supply and lost on consistency, so Nimble sells the thing nobody else guarantees: 24-hour professional staff, full-time property management, one design standard, every stay.

Identity, positioning and the pitch built together, because the name only works if the sentence under it does.

Positioning
Category creation
Identity
Hospitality
Property management

The mark · an Airtel

Nimble positioning page, a fresh way to short stay — **Positioning** · the argument

Nimble × Airtel · the category

The short-stay thesis that AirMaid was later built to service.

Ho'Cast2020

Ho'Cast final cover art, motel neon direction — **Final cover** · Hustle or Starve, the one that shipped

Ho'Cast cover direction, neon script — **Direction** · neon script on the heel

Ho'Cast cover direction, purple glitter lip — **Direction** · glitter, purple

Ho'Cast cover direction, red lip and nails — **Direction** · red, close crop

Ho'Cast cover direction, portrait — **Direction** · the portrait cut

Ho'Cast episode title card — **Episode art** · the title card

Ho'Cast cover direction, pink — **Direction** · the pink pass

Podcast brand, seven cover directions to the one that shipped. I produced it and we cut a pilot; it didn’t get picked up, too raunchy for the room we took it to. By Nic and KNWVMBRR, a Bandz production.

Last Ones Laughing2023

The mark · Worn by Winners

Apparel brand identity, the mark, in two lockups. "Worn by Winners" is the brand’s line.

Operations roles2019 – 2026

Veho. Logistics Operations Lead

Detroit, MI · 2023–2026

Directed daily distribution of 6,000 to 10,000 packages: route troubleshooting, fulfillment execution, driver workflows and shrink analysis in a live, time-critical operation. I started as an independent driver. They brought me on staff, and I wrote the shrink plan for the Chief Safety Officer.

I left on my own terms. The shift was posted five to two and ran five to six; I was up at 3am to work somebody else's schedule while I was finishing a degree and building two platforms. I wanted to be the one setting the schedule.

Toast on Lenox. Project Manager / Operations Lead

Atlanta, GA · 2022–2024

Project manager from concept through opening: SOP development, systems setup, vendor coordination, staffing, marketing and event execution, reporting to ownership. On the second location I came in as the lead on design and concept brand development, brought on by the commercial broker, and worked alongside the operating partner and the executive chef through the first quarter. About a year across both.

Harold's Chicken Ice Bar. Hospitality

Edgewood · Atlanta, GA · 2019–2023

High-volume nightlife, bar and hookah operations, guest recovery, staff training. Harold's was a Chicago staple growing up. Working one in Atlanta was never only a job.

A system is only as good as whoever is running it at 2am.

Shipped and live2025 – 2026

AITrust-ID

aitrustid.com · Open protocol · 2026 · Live

An open protocol for labeling AI output with evidence-backed authenticity tags, checked entirely on the reader's own machine. Nine labels, each carrying the signals that produced it and the spans they fired on. When confidence falls below a published floor the system returns UNK instead of guessing.

No paid APIs and no network egress at inference, structurally, not by policy. Content never leaves the machine; assertions carry a hash and character offsets, never text. Inverts the category: every competitor sells detection to institutions so they can accuse people. This one issues receipts to authors so they can answer the accusation. The specification, reference implementation and calibration ledger are free permanently.

Protocol design
Privacy by architecture
ed25519 / RFC 3161
Governance
Accessibility
Docker

aitrustid.com

AI Trust ID person view with fourteen evidence tags — **Person view** · the tag set

AI Trust ID enterprise view — **Enterprise view** · the gated half

Fleet tag detail showing a not independently validated notice — **Honest state** · "not independently validated"

Teamwork governance panel — **Governance** · who owns which outcome

Every tag is a card you can open. A capability that isn't ready says so on its own face, "Not independently validated. This capability is not available yet." Most products hide that. This one ships it as a state.

Trap House Traders

traphousetraders.com · Independent venture · 2025. Present · Live

A Rust-first autonomous trading platform I built and run alone. Fourteen broker and market-data integrations with failover. 22 million ticks processed, 812 a second, 896 symbols live. It has been trading Alpaca’s paper API for a year and it is holding 303 open positions right now, $240,595 equity, $723,402 buying power, 193 wins to 110 losses. It peaked near $686,000 in May.

Paper on purpose. I am not routing real money through an execution path I am still hardening, and the restraint is the point: the market data is real, the fills are real, the slippage is real, and the order layer will not place a trade without three separate environment acknowledgements. Nothing about the system is simulated except whose money is at risk.

I ran out of AI compute budget mid-build. I did not shelve it. I replaced the paid third-party services with ones I wrote, added cost-aware orchestration and verification gates, migrated the servers, and rebuilt the execution path to run on less than it used to cost.

Rust
PostgreSQL / TimescaleDB
Redis
NATS JetStream
Docker
GitHub Actions

traphousetraders.com

Trap House Traders sign-in screen — **THT v5.4** · autonomous trading command center

Trap House Traders system metrics panel — **System** · ticks, intents, orders, errors, live

Trap House Traders data ingestion pipeline panel — **Ingestion** · 812 ticks a second, per-provider health

Trap House Traders paper brokerage accounts panel — **Trap School** · paper and practice accounts, per broker

Trap House Traders portfolio panel — **Position book** · 303 open, sorted by P&L, close from the row

Trap House Traders security event panel — **Security** · file integrity, rejection storms, intent floods

Alpaca paper account, one month — **The account** · $240,595 equity, $723,402 buying power

Alpaca paper account, one year — **A year running** · the curve, peak to today

Alpaca top positions, with gains and losses — **Top positions** · winners and losers, both shown

Version 5.4. Admin path, trader path, and an execution layer that will not place an order without three environment acknowledgements. Brokers connected: Alpaca, IBKR, Coinbase, Kraken, Oanda. The last three cards are the live Alpaca account the system has been trading for a year.

In the workshopin progress

SharpShooterBoard

v0.8.8 · Local-first sports intelligence terminal · 2026

Probabilistic research platform for NBA, NFL and MLB. Ingests timestamped sports and sportsbook data, engineers as-of features, trains calibrated models, simulates multiple futures, grades market edges, analyzes tickets with OCR, and tracks CLV and bankroll state across FastAPI, Streamlit and Telegram.

Treats operator memory as a hard requirement: the changelog, the inventory and the lessons-learned file must be updated after every meaningful pass, or the pass isn't finished.

Rust
Python
Calibrated models
As-of features
OCR
FastAPI

Six First Dates

AI matchmaking platform · React, Expo, FastAPI, private LLM/RAG core · 2025

A guided six-date process with an AI coach, a structured playbook and human matchmaking underneath. React web, Expo mobile, FastAPI backend, a private LLM/RAG core on Google Cloud Run, consent controls, RBAC and audit logging. Load-tested to 25,000 simulated users.

The deck below is the part worth showing: my own design review, in red, over a running build. Flip the input and output so the answer lands at the bottom. Delete that button entirely and center the sentence. These two don't work. Make the hero bigger, "make it like we mean it." Then the version that shipped.

React
Expo
FastAPI
RAG
RBAC & audit
Design review

Hero section with red design review notes — **Review** · the hero, marked up

Hero section after the revisions — **Shipped** · the same hero, fixed

Ask the Coach module with review notes — **Review** · flip input and output

Singles profiles section with review notes — **Review** · cut a button, center the rest

Singles preview modal, three free profiles — **Preview modal** · 3 free, then sign in

Build, review in red, ship. The red pen is mine.

Also in the workshop

Agent Michael, a safety-gated trading core where live execution requires three separate environment acknowledgements before it will place an order. CEAL, peer-to-peer lending with an AI assistant on both the borrow and lend side. A county distress-lead workbench with 0 to 100 scoring and live underwriting math.

Product design2019 – 2024

AirMaid / McMaid, short-let turnover marketplace

Product definition · two-sided marketplace · iOS · 2019

Defined from zero on paper: which cities carry the most listings, what a checkout clean costs today, what it costs to clean one unit in thirty minutes and six units in a day. Staffing, training, bonding and insurance. How the cleaner gets paid, same day or next.

Then the product. A job board on a live map, every job priced per room, per bed and per square foot. A cleaner side and a client side with separate navigation bars. Supply logistics, a ready / not-ready state per unit, service notes, and a rating loop where the customer approves, denies or complains. The personas came before the screens, Sara, 29, eight units, single mom, works full time. "Just get it done" is her personality.

Product definition
Unit economics
Two-sided marketplace
Personas
Pricing model
SOP design

AirMaid job board wireframe with live map and job cards — **Job board** · map, job box, income bar

Personas · profile and review loop

AirMaid client home with ready and not-ready unit states — **Client home** · ready / not ready

AirMaid cost calculator and navigation bar study — **Cost calc** · per room, bed, sq ft

The screens, in the order they were drawn, job board, personas, the client home, then the cost calculator.

Trap Burger, ordering app

Product design · four pages of flow, one component set

A tappable logo menu that stays put on scroll. A greeting that rotates by name or guest. Then the order path as modals: a draggable burger carousel, sauce and veggie modals you tap and untap, a combo question that only asks when it needs to.

Three menus running off one component set. The Brick and Double Up, Stick-Up Chicken ("how many birds you need?", 1, 3, 5), and Plug Taco. The sauce modal is specified once and reused. The note I left myself on page two was "reduce words."

Flow design
Modal architecture
Component reuse
Voice & microcopy
Mobile ordering

Trap Burger landing page wireframe — **Landing** · sign in, or just shop

Trap Burger order page with burger carousel and modals — **Order** · carousel, sauce, veggie

Stick-Up Chicken page wireframe — **Stick-Up Chicken** · reused modals

Plug Taco build-your-meal wireframe — **Plug Taco** · build your meal

Trap Burger menu page wireframe with signed-in state — **Menu page** · signed-in and signed-out states

Trap Burger modal specification notes — **Modal notes** · add / unadd, shell rotation

Four pages. One component set, three menus, and a running argument with myself about word count.

Agent Michael

Information design · the screen before the code · 2024

Before I wrote a line of code I drew the whole screen by hand, in five pen colors. I wanted to see the thing working before I committed to building it. What is on the screen, where it sits, and what a person needs to know first.

Every color means something. One for the money, one for positions, one for how the agent itself is doing, one for news. Nothing is colored just to look good. If you know the code, you can read the screen without reading a label.

I knew the layout would have to hold things I had not thought of yet, so I left a box in the corner for widgets and kept the settings rail hidden until somebody asks for it. I would rather plan for the mess than redraw the whole thing later.

This drawing is what Trap House Traders was built from. The last card in the stack is the dashboard running today. Bread Command, Trap Command, Data Command, Tool Command. Four columns, the same four regions, the same rule about color. And the safety gate I drew in 2024 is the one that still will not place an order without three separate environment acknowledgements.

Information design
Dashboard layout
Data hierarchy
Fintech
Execution safety

Agent Michael trading dashboard wireframe in color — **Dashboard** · the whole desk, one page

Trap House Traders dashboard running, four command columns — **Two years later** · the same four regions, shipped as THT

One sheet. Every number on the screen placed before anything was built.

Electric 600. EV rental, built as components

Product design · 2019 · "My goal is to make EVs more accessible than gas"

Specified component by component before any code: the EV tile, the data card, the money menu, the rent action. Each one its own unit with a pressed and unpressed state, light and dark mode, and a defined flip, fade and blur. Think microservice.

Then the parts most people skip. Per-charge against per-weekend against membership pricing. The add-on menu that writes to a digital invoice. The security deposit, split to a second card if you want. ID onboarding that has to match the payment address. And the adverse path, the branch where no rental can happen, drawn out in full rather than left for later.

Component architecture
Pricing & packaging
Checkout flow
Onboarding & KYC
Light / dark
Edge cases

Rent and redeem scheduler flow on a whiteboard — **Scheduler** · now / later, pickup, filters

EV placard component study — **The placard** · one component

EV placard component study, annotated — **The placard** · states and hover

Component breakdown and money menu — **Money menu** · per charge to membership

Add-on menu and digital receipt flow — **Add-ons** · receipt and deposit

Payment, identity onboarding and the adverse path — **Payment & ID** · and the adverse path

Six boards. Components first, then pricing, then the invoice, then the path where the rental fails.

Art2021 – 2023, selective since

~$250K

Sold direct, 2021–2023

1 of 1

Original, signed, certified

A few

Commissions a year, now

Art by KNWVMBRR

Original acrylic paintings · Atlanta & Detroit

Painting has been part of my creative life for years. My work brings together bold color, sharp shapes, portraiture, and influences from Chicago and Detroit. Each painting is an original, signed and delivered with a certificate of authenticity.

Between 2021 and 2023, I sold approximately $250,000 in original work directly to collectors, including recording artists and their families. I handled everything from the first conversation to the finished painting, building relationships with people who wanted my work in their homes and personal collections.

Today, I take on a few commissions each year, leaving more time to explore my own ideas. I enjoy having room to experiment and giving each painting the attention it deserves.