At most contests now, skaters are judged against themselves.

No one can fathom that the top 200 pro street skaters run from cops on the weekends and use a generator and lights to light up a handrail at 2 in the morning to get a trick that's going to be in an advertisement that will be shown around the world.

I started my first company when I was 18 and learned by trial through fire, having no formal education or entrepreneurial experience.

In Ohio, I built the world's first skate plaza.

The evolution of the plaza always came from the idea of just a really good place to ride a skateboard that you could ride at anytime, and that's what the foundation always stands for - being a place that's free, open and legal... for those that are technical, to do really hard stuff, and for those who are learning, to just have fun.

I quit high school to be a pro skateboarder out of Ohio, which is just asinine, but it was meant to be.