I am a motivational speaker of the series The Words He Cannot Say who uses drawings as a visual aid. How this works is that I create the drawings ahead of time, and when I speak, I point to the drawings with a laser pointer when I refer to them when I talk. People who have watched me perform say that I pause when I talk. I have classified as clean, which is PG to PG – 13 content with no swearing.
Although I currently perform with comedians, and my stories are humorous, I consider myself more of an activist than a comedian. I write stories to support a cause, not because I am a fan of any specific actor or book, so my stories are more of an act of life becoming art, rather that art imitating life. For example, if someone told me I was patient, I would list traits that make someone patient, and times that I was patient. Or I will write an answer to a question that I am curious about, like “What made you choose this profession?” I also write to analyze how a situation could have handled differently.
Some topics I have covered include:
- Fitting In
- Bullying
- Careers/Hobbies
- Character
- Autism (because I have autism)
My graphic memoir The Words He Cannot Say is losing the autism theme because I am learning that my challenges are more common amongst neurotypicals (people who do not have autism) than I thought they were before I shared The Words He Cannot Say.
Facts and statistics that motivate me to write and draw include:
- More than half of high schoolers are unprepared for college
- A third of Americans are lonely
- Half of Americans are shy
- 85 % of people with autism are unemployed
- People with autism can feel the need to mask (suppress their traits related to autism)
I have been writing stories since 2013, performing at open mics since 2018, and have been drawing since early 2019 but made a drastic change in artistic style in December 2019 after taking an art class at the Des Moines Art Center and reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. When I was in high school, I sung in rock bands and sung Stronger by Kanye West to my friends. In college, I sung Love Shack by the B-52’s to my friends and at a talent show. I believe these singing experiences transferred over to motivational speaking. I have been exhibiting art since 2021 and selling art since 2024. I have exhibited art in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas City, Chicago, Janesville, Wisconsin, and Faribault (pronounced fer-i-bow), Minnesota. I have been protesting using messages on t-shirts since 2025.
I live by myself with only a calico cat named Carly, who I wrote about in my picture book Uncle Leo’s Cat Carly. I also exercise by rock climbing, ab workouts, and lifting weights. I record myself climbing and email the videos to my family, which is how I unintentionally inspired my niece to be a rock climber.
This is my cat Carly.
My full time job is sorting mail at the Post Office. I assistant teach Art Spectrums, an art class for kids with autism, at the Des Moines Art Center once a month. I volunteer by coaching Special Olympics basketball and bowling at Link Associates, a company that helps adults with disabilities communicate, build talent and character, during the fall and winter, and by supervising kids of single parents during break time through the Single Parent Provision once a month.
The Words He Cannot Say 