1. If you were to describe your job to a 5 year old, how would you describe it?

I take really complicated ideas and turn them into simple words and pictures that tell a little story. And I have a bunch of helpers that do it with me. Together we make all kinds of stories, about all kinds of things, like people, friends, and doing fun things in the sea and seeing beautiful places around the world, and we do this everyday, and we love it.

2. What's the best career advice you've ever received?

Pssssssh, there’s so much advice you pick up along the way, it’s hard to point at one thing and say that’s it. So I listen to it all, and take what works best for me.

Listen actively.

And by that I mean, shut down your ego and listen, really hear the other person, understand their idea so deeply that it feels like your own. It’s really easy to blow someone off in those moments… yeah yeah I get it, thanks and then move on, but I see value and opportunity there, so I create mental space to listen and try on their advice. In many ways, just like trying on a jacket, check it out, see how it feels, look in the mirror, see how you look in it, and then decide if you’re keeping it or not.

When I do that, I feel more like I’m developing myself over doing what someone says.

3. If you could thank someone that helped get you to where you are today, who would you thank, and what would you say?

This changes for me all the time. I do this thing, where I find someone at the office that inspires me, someone that I can learn from, there’s always someone with something that I’m drawn towards, and I watch and learn from them the very thing that caught my attention. These people have influenced and shaped me into who and where I am now.

Pri Shumate was that person for me this past year. I’ve already thanked her, a couple times now, and I know it was heard. I let her know how deeply impacted I was by her radical candor towards me not meeting her expectations and filling the expectations of my current role and position. It was brutal. And I was deeply cut, and it hurt, because what she said was something I already knew and felt inside, but I chose complacency over growth.

I quickly got my shit together, and I’m forever better. She knows this, so no more thank yous needed.

*Jason currently lives in Los Angeles and works as VP, Creative Director for the World Surf League*