On my 18th birthday, I sent Brian Collins a cold email.
At that point, I had self-taught design while in high school, and written a book called The Dropout Manifesto. I had worked two jobs as a designer/copywriter at startups. I explained my ambition to Brian, and he said: Go to school. Or...come to New York City and talk to me.
Before inviting me, he asked tough questions: "Why do you want to be a designer? What impact do you want to make? What is it you want to learn by working with us?" I answered those with videos instead of emails, and he invited me to NYC.
Conversations about an apprenticeship stalled; I flew to NYC unannounced five months later and called Brian when I landed. (I also visited Sagmeister & Walsh, now &Walsh, while I was there.) That Monday, before my plane took off, I interviewed with 4 people at the office.
I started at Collins in June 2019 as Design Apprentice.
After six months, I was promoted to a full-time member of the Collins team.