I was interviewed as an entrepreneur operating under the $Kendu brand. Here is my response.

So the jewelry was under my personal brand which I started about 8-10 years ago. I got started because I wanted to be able to wear the cool rocks and crystals that I found on my travels and fell in love with the almost meditative art form. Being able to connect people and foster self-expression is definitely one of the factors that has kept me interested in jewelry all these years.

While the jewelry was crafted under my personal brand, I wanted to be able to create unique pieces of jewelry to give back to this amazing community that helped me out of a deep depression.

Before I found kendu, I had tried to operate my personal business full time but hadn’t been able to support myself. Having to get a full-time job to make ends meet was a tradeoff. While yes, I was able to pay my bills and start saving money, I felt like a failure and a sell out, and a victim of a system not suited to creative types.

After about a year and a half at that job, I came to a crossroads. I saw my life continuing down the path of working this job that was sucking my soul, or I could do something about it. I chose the latter.

I remembered one of my friends making a few hundred thousand dollars on Shib back in 2021 and having know about the Bitcoin halving, I figured this was the year to get in. After buying a few thousand dollars worth, over a few weeks, I came to the realization that while shib would still probably do well this cycle, it wasn’t going to provide the kinds of gains that I needed to plan my escape.

That’s when I found Kendu. From the first moment I entered the TG and was welcomed by multiple individuals, I had my curiosity piqued.

Who were all these people and what were they about?

Then I found out about the ethos and the mission. The ethos, “We don’t gamble, we work.” And the mission of allowing anyone who wants to do something with the brand to build.

Those things deeply resonated with me. Slowly but surely, I got involved in the community. It started with cracking jokes and smashing posts but I realized that I wanted to do something more to help grow the project.

I thought, “How can I leverage my skills to reach a new audience for Kendu?” And that’s when the light bulb came on!

From the moment I started working on the Kendu Pendu, the big medallion with Cuban chain, the excitement of the community really lit a fire inside of me.

So much so, that once I was finished with that necklace, I made 5 other necklaces of a different design. They all sold out within the first 2 weeks of release.

This community has been so supportive, in so many ways aside from my business, that I can honestly say Kendu has changed my life for the better. It has given me hope that I can change my situation in regards to finances so that I can fulfill my life’s purpose. To create, to explore, to connect, and to leave this world a little brighter than I found it.

In regards to the brand I’m building for the livestream, me going in front of a camera for the community was fostered by one of the earlier competitions, I danced with a sign on a busy street. It was dumb at the time, but if you know me, I love dumb stuff.

The community once again gassed me up. It’s hard to describe to people who haven’t started doing the work. But there’s almost like a sort of electricity where everyone who’s doing the work sees everyone else doing the work, and we all kindof lift up each other together.

Fast forward a few weeks, we had entered a consolidation period and the chat got flooded with /wens. I know that markets fluctuate and sentiment is powerful, so I tried to focus on what I had control over, and what I could do.

Now, a brief aside about me, I love randomly wearing banana costumes because they just bring so much joy to people. When have you ever been mad seeing a person wearing a banana?

So trying to rally the troops, I donned the banana and jumped off a bridge near me.

Again, the aftermath created such a high that I was like, this is another thing that I can do to help grow the project!

Since that day, I believe I’ve made 2 other videos.

Recently, on kindof a whim and without any planning, I decided to write “KENDU.IO” on both sides of the costume, put on the banana, grab a selfie stick, and walk around a city near me while livestreaming on X.

The interactions with the public were fun and a great way to reach people outside of crypto twitter and online. I love seeing the smiles of people and almost the act of becoming the Kendu Banana. Combine that premise with the support of the community and we received over 2.5k views on the first broadcast!

Most of the time was just me being my neurodivergent self. Now with the life I’ve lived, I’ve always seen myself as a sort of fringe character. Kind-of ignored by the mainstream.

But it’s funny. By putting on a bright yellow banana and mask, I feel i have been able to not only fully embody who I am, but feel accepted and almost celebrated in doing so.

All in all, I would do anything to help this community grow in order to spread the magic that helped me out.