When deciding my brand identity, I went back and forth about two factors:

1. The use of purple in the color pallet.
2. If epilepsy should be mentioned at all.

But the more and more I thought about it, the answer was easy – both should be included.

And the reason is simple. Keep it Stoked is an agency run by me, and I will always have epilepsy. So let’s talk about it.

This is a story I have yet to share to the public, but there’s a time for everything.

In the summer of 2009, I was a stoked UCSD student living in Leucadia a block away from the beach. I worked, surfed, and wrote poetry every day.

Then, all of the sudden I awoke in a hospital room surrounded by my mother, father, best friend, and brother. I was shocked. I was supposed to be in my apartment, getting ready to surf the big south swell.

I tried to ask what was going on, but realized my mouth had something around it. I tried to get out of bed, but realized I had all sorts of things attached to all sorts of me.

I saw eyes filled with joyous tears and couldn’t understand what was happening.

Finally, someone handed me a pad and a pen. I asked, in very poor handwriting, “why are you all here?”

“Jared, you just woke up from a 10-day coma,” my mom cried.

Roughly 20 days later, I was back at my apartment and my daily routine of surf, study, work.

I am not going to make you sit through the medical details, in fact, I am saving that for a book. Instead, I am going to tell you what that event means to me to this day.

I am damn lucky to be alive. I could have been off this earth 16 years ago. All the stuff you see on my website, it wouldn’t have existed. But, here I am.

The doctors told my parents, there wasn’t much of a chance that I would be the same if I awoke. They also told my parents I should take some time off school and never surf again.

When my parents relayed all that information to me, I told them, “I am going to graduate on time and I will never stop surfing.” My parents knew me well. They knew I saw this as a new challenge and I liked challenges. They also knew I could never detach from the ocean.

So they left the decision up to me.

I went right back to school, to my jobs, to surfing, and my friends. I felt renewed, re-energized, and ready for anything.

This is a long way to say…every day I live is an opportunity. Even if I remain seizure-free for the rest of my life, epilepsy will define a large portion of it. It has embedded in me a mentality that thrives through challenging times. It has made me the person I am today.

Since that time, I have worked to raise awareness about epilepsy in a variety of ways. My personal favorite – rocking the color purple in some way every day. All of my surfboards have purple art and my wardrobe is packed with it.

Accordingly, epilepsy and my use of purples makes me stick out from my peers. It’s a defining characteristic of who I am and will be. If this agency is going to be authentic and honest, then my logo and copy should represent me in full.

I am a dad. I am a husband. I am a surfer. I am an epilepsy warrior. And now, I am a marketing agency founder.

I do all that as someone who’s been through hundreds of seizures, a 10-day coma, and brain surgery.

Thus, no challenge is too big for me. In fact, I thrive on challenges.

Purple is the color of my logo to exemplify that fact. And the “epileptic opportunity” phrase was adapted to the business world.

Because that is my way to say – bring me your marketing challenges, I am here to fix them and help you thrive.