Mark Foster
Heroin Skateboards
London, England UK
"If you're a creative person, you shouldn't pigeonhole yourself."
Career Roadmap
Mark's work combines: Action Sports, Entrepreneurship, and Being Creative
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Take Roadmap QuizSkills & Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Graphic Design
Goldsmiths, University of London, England
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Growing up, his father always told him he should be a plumber or an electrician-something "practical."
2.
When he protested and said he was a creative person, his dad said he'd never make a living drawing monsters.
3.
Following this sentiment, Mark pushed harder than ever to make a career out of exactly that.
4.
He didn't do very well in school; he was always preoccupied by his love of skateboarding.
5.
When he started looking for graphic design jobs, he found that the majority of openings were looking for someone to structure corporate documents.
6.
He knew he needed to be creative on his own terms, so he and a friend started screen printing their designs onto t-shirts and selling them.
7.
From there, he followed a natural progression into drawing designs for skateboards, thus merging his two interests.
8.
Once he'd made enough contacts in the field, he started Heroin Skateboards, now one of the biggest skate brands in the U.K. and Japan.