I see CREDO as working to create spaces or projects around which communities of meaning and impact can flourish. The community that I enjoy the most is my three children (Wesley, Eleanor, Hazel) and my wife. We've been together since 2003 and in Orlando since 2009.

I live and breathe music. From songwriting, playing and singing, to dancing, listening and worshiping. It truly colors every aspect of my life. I love that CREDO encourages the cultivation of authentic community, as I believe the best way to experience music is through or with other people.

To me, meaning doesn't depend on what I'm actually doing or what duties I'm actually performing, but rather how those actions affect others. With Downtown CREDO, the work I am privileged to do each day contributes to the overall community in ways larger than the individual tasks themselves.

The mission to lead lives of meaning, impact, and community is engrained in every facet of CREDO, and I'm constantly overwhelmed with the level of commitment and intentionality in our customers, our partners, and my coworkers. Coffee can be a medium to so much more, and I am thrilled to see communities of people bettering this city and world through their choices both in and out of our coffeeshops.

We put a lot of thought and effort in ensuring our coffee shops are places where people's isolation is challenged. I love being a part of that because I've found the people that matter to me most are those who extend those same challenges to me. Community thrives on these sort of sharpening connections and I'm grateful we've created spaces where people take ownership of maintaining those levels of relationships.

Living intentionally and with meaning is my heartbeat. I've found it to be the most profound way of accessing the greatest amount of value from each situation and interaction I engage. It's not always the easiest, but I feel it to be the most fulfilling at the end of the day.

I think that “impact” starts with loving and caring for the people in your immediate surroundings. Sometimes the biggest impact can come from showing genuine care to someone buying some coffee from you. I think that those daily impacts people can make can inspire and rally people together to pursue impacting the entire community.

To live a life of meaning is, for me, to intentionally engage others in ways that show love and grace.

Its perhaps cheesy, but “Meaning, Impact, and Community” is our proverbial 'why' -- it's a neat experience to see how people enter CREDO through various outlets: coffee shop life, cleanups, parades, co-working; and each of these seemingly separate activities are connected through that thread of Meaning, Impact, and Community.

I'm an introvert, so I really like time alone—thinking or driving or listening to music—but too often I've used that as an excuse to avoid the energy that it takes to connect with other people. Over the course of my life it's easy for me to see that some of the best and healthiest times—though not always the easiest—were the times when I let people in and entered into community. I want to continue to take a chance with people and to keep fighting for connection, because I can't do this life thing by myself, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. I'm really thankful to be a part of CREDO, a community where everybody is welcome and where it's okay if you don't have it all together. God knows we don't.