KESA

Featured in 🙏🏽

It’s incomprehensible.

You honor what inspires you by having the nerve to try to create the same feeling for someone else.✌🏽💕

I was sitting in a cubicle at a job I hated and listened to an interview with that changed my life. - the self-taught designer who validated his perspective in the world of high fashion by creating for himself, through his own brand , leaning into what had always inspired him.

That was in 2018, and I’ve listened to that podcast no less than once a week ever since. Last week, launched this first 2 sneakers for and by some miracle I got my lil hands on both and as soon as they arrived, I zipped out side with my camera and headphones drove around and just created. I had an absolute blast.

It’s not about sneakers or brands or partnerships, it’s about how far you can take yourself by not waiting a second for others to validate you or what you’re into.

Just go do your thang exactly tf you want to, don’t let ANYONE make you feel like you shouldn’t be proud of it, and never quit. You’ll change your whole life, I promise✌🏽💕

Brothers, still up to no good, & Cooking as we speak
📸 x 🥋 x

🌅🌴🌊

Didn’t I tell you that came to do it differently? And that’s exactly what we’re doing. For the FIRST TIME EVER me and my homies at .hcst will be hosting an ADOBE LIVE, from the student studio, broadcasting to the OFFICIAL ADOBE YOUTUBE CHANNEL. These kids ain’t even graduated and they’re already hosting, showcasing, and demonstrating 😫🤯 I’ll be co/hosting with the Indestructible Ms and watching in AWE of our student guests .calderoniii and who will be sharing how they use and premiere pro to edit videos.

again, THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE 🤯🤯🤯 so please join us next Tuesday at 3pm EST 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽😤😤😤 more to come!

🫡 to everyone out there creating today. Making is hard, sharing can be daunting, and growth can be painful, but we’re out here getting it regardless

May 36 be filled with opportunities to prove just how grateful for everyone here. Thank you, thank you, thank you 💕🙏🏽

On stage, but absolutely zero play 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥😤😤😤😤😤😤😤

💭💭💭💭💭

I can’t stop using the new “Structure” tool in FireFly to design sneaker CWs 😩😤💕🤯

The Forum ‘84 High was almost Michael Jordan’s signature sneaker, wearing it only once at the ‘84 Olympic Trial in LA and too often is thought of in those terms: for what it didn’t become. That dynamic holds a lot of personal relevance to me and has made the Forum ‘84 my favorite sneaker to redesign. Each mock up is an opportunity to tell our own story.

until now, creating mock ups has been prohibitively frustrating - creating individual layer masks, sourcing textures and matching lighting would take forever and never looked quite right.

sneakers are a deeply held passion of mine because of the stories designers can tell through them. I’m so grateful has made it more accessible for all of us to tell our stories through footwear.

Here are a handful of mine (the Quiet Thurston Blossoms has me messy crying) my WRKflw: Lr to edit reference photos > FireFly as a launching point > Ps to refine or swap details > to package, edit, and share. 💕

Ps, I’ve included the same “reference” image for anyone looking to design their own🙏🏽💕

Thank you Jacksonville for letting me come through and do my thing 💕🫡🐊

I haven’t slept in days, but when my plane landed in Gainesville, Fl at 1 am, I kept it movin’, stayed up till damn near 4am rehearsing my presentations alone in my hotel room, got a wake-up call at 7am, and went right back at it.

I’ve never worked so hard in my life, but photos like this make it all worth it and Im sincerely Grateful for every single person who came out to both events today. - together we can change the world.

None of it would be possible without and Kevwe who organized the whole thing and trusted me to give this everyone I had 🙏🏽

Headed to Jacksonville to run it back one mo’ ‘gain. 😤💪🏽🙌🏽 but for now, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all your energy and support 🙏🏽

Gainesville, you are seen 💕

I used to borrow my dad’s dress shirts for interviews because I couldn’t afford one. Next month, I’m speaking at this year’s in Toronto - about the future of the professional creative landscape, and if you ask me how I got here, I’ll tell you: I fought my heart out. But if you ask me why…well, you must not know me yet.

I used to work with kids with 100x talent and 1000x the ability that I have, but where I’m from, if you look like me, you’ll probably never get hired to do anything creative. “We hire for culture, not for skill. You can teach the right person anything.”

Go ahead and ask. I did for years, in a shirt my father had ironed the night before. I never came close.

It shouldn’t be so damn hard to make it. I’m here to make stories like mine far more common by teaching ANYONE ANYTHING I know that may help them build a fulfilling career as a creative for themselves, because if you have a face or hair or music or an attitude like mine…

So many moves, I couldn’t even tell you the next one 🕶️🛫🛬

Yesterday was better than I deserve.

The goal was: Design a shirt > Get it Printed > Photoshoot > Edit LIVE FROM NEW YORK while hosting an Official Creative KickOFF from the office on BroadWay…all in one day.

With FireFly, , and just about any Print On Demand service, kids today have all the tools they need ON THEIR PHONES to launch, market, and maintain their very own business in MINUTES with ZERO OVER HEAD

Think of the lives we can change by helping a generation of kids gain meaningful ecommerence experience, a creative outlet, and in many cases, enough money to immediately impact their community.

So I mocked up a graphic & got ambitious.

I got the shirts made, tapped on dear friend/ photographer for , for a bit a help. (and by “Tapped,” I mean, “sent such a desperately unhinged string of DMs, I think he came by just to see if I was ok” lol)

We hit the streets, trading my camera back and forth, sporting our freshly printed crewnecks and then something special happened…We came across LEGENDARY Street Photographer and NYC Icon, Louis Mendes

I asked if I could take his photo.

He said, “yeah, but do it from outside...get a different look.” As I headed toward the door, I thought I had just been finessed away from him and out his sight forever in the coolest way possible, but once outside, I turned and I snapped THIS photo.

3 Black Photographers, all in the same place, just talking shop... ya’ll it was a BHM Miracle. ANYWAYS, The Point of all this is:

If you have more ambition than time; do it anyways.

I am forever grateful to work at a place like for letting me TRY ❤️

Ya’ll KNOW me, I wouldn’t ask the time of day from a clock, but I set a goal for 2024….I want to break the record for MOST CONCURRENT VIEWERS on an Adobe Live Stream ever. Like ever-ever. I’m taking over the YouTube next Wednesday (1/24) at 12p EST/9a PST I’m putting out the call to all my homies: let’s see if we can break this thing. hop in from ya phone, lap top, refrigerator, ya gramamama’s tablet , anything and help me see just how many cooks we can get in the kitchen 💕💕💕, 👨🏾‍🍳👩‍🍳🧑🏻‍🍳

2,024 Goals. Absolutely 0 Play. We’re coming for all of it this year 😤😤😤😤

Test Shoot for upcoming collab with (📸🫶🏽🤯🙏🏽)

“I mean, YEAH I know Santa…” has been the strategy to this month’s ‘Dad is Still Cool’ Campaign. Will report back in January 😩🙏🏽

Mid Town, Downstate, rocking Uptempos with the best team on Earth ✌🏽🌎 life is GOOD-GOOD

It’s our adventure

It’s a work of art, I ain’t talking’ Mona Lisa
🥤&🍕

Pay attention to who’s outside your circle the moments you feel centered 🙏🏽🫶🏽

Don’t ever let anyone tell you what’s out of your reach. And after a week in NOLA, among some of the most gifted, ambitious artists in the world, I’m setting my sights for who I can build myself into even HIGHER than ever 💕

I’m so thankful for and for facilitating this week and the incredible .lindsey who was my copresenter

And MOST IMPORTANTLY I couldn’t feel more blessed by all the new people in my life from this trip, who were gracious, engaged, and focused. Turns out, I was only meant to have 20minutes on stage, but ima be honest, yall had me feelin’ myself and we went a FULL HOUR 😩😅😅

I always said, flicker the house lights and ima do my best James Brown impression and go until I sweat this perm out 😩🤣🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Thank you all again, PLEASE reach out and keep the conversation going✌🏽💕

📸 @

Locked up in Steel City before landing in New Orleans, Asheville, San Francisco, & Salt Lake City 💕🛫🛫🛫🛫

Back home and focused 🛬🙏🏽💕

MEMPHIS!!! I cannot overstate my gratitude for the opportunity to stop by, make friends, and be inspired by you all at this year’s 🙏🏽🙌🏽

Being a guest speaker yesterday made me feel all the feels and I was sincerely moved by EVERYONE who came up to me after my session.

Seeing so many of you connect with me here means so much to me. This is space with an open invitation to creatives of all expressions to share their stories on their own terms, hone their approach to doing so, and create opportunities for others to do the same.

Together, we’re validating creatives who in the past, may have never felt comfortable calling themselves an artist, granting access to the tools they need, and creating opportunities for one another and it honestly feels dreamlike. Like I can’t BELIEVE I get to be even the tiniest part of this. I really can’t thank you all enough.

But I’ll try nonetheless

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Create. Encourage. Express. Love.

With Gratitude,
-T

Beam me up 🛸

You can manifest anything if you stay locked in 🙏🏽