While John Nelson-Alden was busy dealing with the realities of the changing world being shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the toll it was taking on his business, Johnny Mohawk was learning to code. While John Nelson-Alden was cripppled by grief of the unexpected death of his father, Johnny Mohawk took the wheel.
I know this sounds crazy.. It was crazy. I just didn’t know how to be myself at the time, and to be honest I really didn’t know who John Nelson-Alden was anymore. Johnny Mohawk became an avenue to entirely reinvent myself. In hindsight the creation of this persona was an introspective exercise the likes of which only occur in times of crisis. Thankfully, this exercise has been a very fruitful one, and now in 2022, I have begun a new chapter of my career as a software engineer and refocused my work and non-work life around the arts. Today, Johnny Mohawk is now a personal brand.
Now that you know about Johnny Mohawk… the question becomes, who the f*ck is John Nelson-Alden?
Let’s start here.
Yep, that little kid is me. This was the beginning of my professional career. The year was 1991. The show was The Young and the Restless. The character was Nicholas Newman. My age? I told you, I was never young.
That’s not to say that I didn’t have a childhood. I did, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it! Being exposed to this environment when I was a child taught me one thing that I have carried with me my entire life. The “magic” of television and film is simple: It is the culmination of all the work of the people you do not see on screen. What the viewer sees is all an illusion, and the creators of a quality illusion work tirelessly to make the viewer forget this fact. For all but those on screen, a job well done means to remain an invisible piece of the illusion. Learning this turned “magic” into something tangible, a strong belief in the power of teamwork!
This belief has strengthened as I have progressed in my life and career. “Team” is the key word here, and team building is an art. A “group of highly trained professionals” is very different from a “tightly knit team of highly trained professionals.” Knowing the difference between these two, and the ability to compose a group of professionals into something greater than the sum of its parts is a recipe for success in any industry.
On my journey, I have charted quite a unique career path; from actor, to chef, to entrepreneur, and now software engineer. This might seem random, but it has been a natural progression, and all along the way I have been honing my people skills, strengthening my networks, and learning how to build winning teams. I have learned as much from failure as I have from success, maybe more. Anyone who tries to paint their picture free of failure is full of sh*t, I ignore them.
So, that’s me. This is my blog. I am going to use this space to write about art, code, food, Chicago, my journey in this crazy world, and various other things that interest me. Thanks for dropping in, I appreciate you!