"You're amazing for going above and beyond. God bless you!" -- Emily
"You were amazing. You made our night!" -- Robert
"Terrific experience. He puts real personality and professionalism into every event." -- Chantel
In 1994, before any of the big Internet players were on the scene, Jason saw an opportunity to reimagine how the real estate industry worked. He created the first online portal designed to meet the needs of real estate industry professionals as well as people looking to buy or sell properties.
The Real System portal offered tools for real estate agents to complete required training completely online, ground-breaking virtual home tours that allowed people to walk through properties remotely, a revolutionary integrated system that automated much of the home purchase closing process which made it possible to shorten the average loan closing time by as much as 50%, and much more!
In 2005 while teaching high school technology classes, Jason watched as MySpace became a major player in society. He also saw the damage it was causing as teens were being exploited in many ways. He recruited several students and began an effort to build a better MySpace in his garage. Kuzoa was created with safety in mind and with the idea that a social networking tool could also be a way to help people improve their lives.
The Kuzoa social networking platform utilized AI to scan for sexual predator activity and reported it if it reached a certain threshhold. It also detected things like suicidal ideation. In the initial testing phase, it saved a man's life by notifying Kuzoa staff of a possible suicide attempt in progress who then notified local authorities.
It also had a built-in system of rewards to motivate people to do life-enhancing things like journaling, creating a resume, encouraging others, etc. While reaching out to various agencies during the build process, Because of his work in the field, Jason was recruited to participate in the newly formed Youth Internet Safety Task Force for the state of Washington.
As the Director of Technology for Key Publishing, Jason helped create new experiences for the professional make-up artist industry and Hollywood Make-up Artists. He helped Make-Up Artist Magazine create e fully-digital offering taking advantage of the rise of personal tablet devices like the iPad.
He also designed a new experience for International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) guests to streamline the ticket purchasing and event registration and check-in processes.
In 2004, Jason was invited to bring real world tech experience to the classroom in order to build a new Science, Math,and Technology magnet program for the Vancouver school district. He introduced hand-on tech experiences that motivated students to want to learn.
In one class, he had the students divide up into four companies that had to create a board game. They then used Microsoft Office products to create the rules, cards, game board, box, etc and them had to build a website to market the product. At the end of the term, the students went on a field trip to the Cranium company headquarters in Seattle and had their games reviewed by Cranium's CEO.
Jason was also recruited by Clark College to help redesign the Web Development degree program from the ground up.
While taking a break from the IT industry, Jason decided to drive for Uber and Lyft soon after they came to Portland. He soon found that taking rides with strangers was an awkward experience at best and decided to apply his experience design skills to make it better. He created a new kind of transportainment experience that garnered viral social media attention quickly.
His ride became known as the "Epic Car Ride" and included a range of snacks and refreshments, a multimedia slideshow featuring information about ride entertainment options, local news and weather, and random trivia facts, a mobile karaoke experience with a high-end mixer and microphones for each passenger added in to the car audio system with a screen for the lyrics, a fully customized dance club lighting setup with extraordinary lighting effects, underglow lighting with effects for the exterior, a talking holographic assistant that can interact with passengers, and a trivia game experience similar to Cash Cab complete with prizes provided by local sponsors.
Jason won several awards for his work and was featured in the Best of Portland guide. He was also hired by Uber to participate in a national marketing campaign while transporting their VIP clients. He was also sought after by Lyft to contribute ideas for how to make driver's experiences better while driving for the platform.
Not wanting to be average in anything, Jason also exhibits his passion for flair in the planning of things as common as date nights. He once planned a date comprised of seven major components which required behind-the-scenes coordination and setup.
The couple started by meeting up with a local artist on the Portland waterfront and had a hands-on experience learning to paint. They then went on to a private tour of the Portland Art Museum followed by lunch at a local area food cart. After that, they attended a ballroom dancing class at Arthur Murray Dance School. From there, they went on to a local indoor shooting range to shoot targets with handguns. Next up was dinner at the Portland City Grill where special seating was prearranged and the view was spectacular. Dinner was followed up by a walk on the Portland waterfront and then by a local dance club experience.
It was a date night that the couple will never forget. After planning that adventure, Jason went on to plan several other date night adventures for other couples and briefly considered doing it full-time.
Jason now carries on his passion for creating epic experiences for people through a new company designed to help people bring their dreams for their special day into reality. He is there to guide and direct people to resources and possibilities that they might not otherwise have known or thought about. He takes care to make each and every event unique for his clients and to assure that their experience is the best it can possibly be. Jason will stop at nothing and will find new and exciting ways to make your dream day exactly how you want it to be. He thrives on making the impossible, possible.
Oh yeah, and he can play music for you too :)
