My business, TNW Creations stands for, "The North Wind." Though my Grandmother was a Texan and Texas is my home, my life began in Yankton, South Dakota where my Grandfather's family was from. I'm a Military Brat and grew up throughout the Midwest. I am also a former Texas Army National Guard soldier. I've briefly touched each of the four corners of America as well as having had the great honor of traveling to many other countries. Despite being a child Nomad carried on the wind, I've lived in Texas for most of my life. And though I've got a penchant for fluttering prairie grass and beautiful crystal clear lakes, my Southern side (I'm looking at you salsa, no bean chili, squash casserole and 8 months of moderate weather!) is really too strong for this Jedi. I still miss the snow from my childhood and my extended family in the beautiful Northern states and thus, my business name reflects the part of my heart that is 14 hours away! 

I've worn many hats throughout my life, but the common core of my career has always been media. As a child, my family owned a Graphic Design studio. At the tender age of 9, I was helping with layouts which at that time involved paper and glue and carefully placing items on an actual spreadsheet over a drawing table. Among the civilian jobs my parents had, my Dad was a photographer for a local newspaper and my mother was a College Art Instructor. In my 20's I worked for 5 different radio stations as Disc Jockey, Commercial writer, Sports Caster and Web Engineer. If it's media and creative, I love to work with it.

Besides the work you see on this site, my internet presence has been substantial for over 2 decades. In 1994/95, while I was still in college, I began teaching my friends my Native language of Lakota. My friends loved it so I compiled and printed a one page sheet that I shared on campus at Haskell Indian Nations University. With the help of my parents Herb and Ronda LaVaux, that effort then grew into a grassroots development for teaching the Lakota language online through Lakhota.Com (since retired in 2011). To brand the site and emphasise the pronunciation which was a major focus for us, my Dad suggested using a, "h" in Lakota. Because Lakota is pronounced, "Lak-ho-tah."

In 1997, I amateurishly printed my first paperback publication through Kinkos. The book was titled, "Lakota Name Translations" and was filled with popular names and graced with a cover photo of a hiking trip we had taken as a family to the Woodlands in Houston.

For several years, my Dad Herbert and I compiled my first Lakota dictionary together. I worked multiple jobs, ran my business, helped with my parent's ranch and business and often fell asleep typing the dictionary at the computer nearly every night. Sometimes he spoke to me and taught me words I didn't already know while I transcribed the content, other times I would get to the family computer late at night where I would find his rough writing on a piece of paper lovingly waiting for me to add my magic. Together our book was published in 1999 by Todd Publications of New York. Unfortunately, Todd Publications never paid us a dime for our work and it's still being published to this day. The simple feather cover art was created and gifted to me by my friend, Colin James Sutton, a staff member at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

By 2000, my parents were busy with their ranch and expanding their aerial photography business, leaving me to single-handedly manage the 30,000+ monthly visitor site. At this point, I had added more content. Matchmaking, ecards, audio and video downloads.