We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tyler Way. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tyler below.
Hi Tyler, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
One of the ventures I’ve been building over the past 10+ years is [HAS HEART], a nonprofit organization that utilizes art and design to share veterans’ stories. Having not come from a military background, this was a world I knew nothing about. But, by giving my time and attention to listening and even helping tell their stories, I instantly understood the need and importance for other civilians, especially creatives, to connect with veterans and celebrate their dedication to serving others.
Our story started over a cup of coffee in 2010 when I first met U.S. Navy veteran and fellow entrepreneur Michael Hyacinthe. Over the years, we’ve continued to pursue this purpose of serving the veteran community through meaningful collaborations with the creative community. Coffee became a catalyst for connection and conversation for [HAS HEART] because each design project we’ve facilitated between a veteran and a designer begins by getting to know one another over coffee. When you combine that opportunity with the moments in our everyday lives that coffee gives us to pause, contemplate, and recharge, we had the vision to create the [HAS HEART] Coffee Shop where these small but meaningful connections can happen daily that could help strengthen and build our community in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Through numerous partnerships and generous support from the community, we’re excited to open the doors of our newly restored historic building at Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Grand Rapids in July 2023.
Tyler, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My creative career started in my freshman dorm room in 2005 when I began custom-painting sneakers. That idea grew into an apparel brand that leveraged my high-end sneaker design service and fine art commissions for NBA clients, including Rip Hamilton, Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Phil Knight.
My passion for footwear transitioned into a corporate footwear designer role at a global lifestyle brand for five years before I left to pursue my nonprofit mission of taking [HAS HEART] nationwide. My wife and I sold everything, bought an Airstream trailer, and lived/worked on the road from 2017-2023, building our creative studio, oneyone, along the way.
The central theme that overlaps my work over the past 15+ years has been utilizing creativity to tell human stories that better connect us with ourselves and others. Whether through product design, brand development, or content creation, marketing campaigns with an authentic intention drive my daily work.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Passion and purpose have fueled my work, so what non-creatives may struggle to understand by leaving a corporate job to take the leap and pursue their own path is that we sleep better at night working towards our own dreams than working for someone else’s in exchange for a paycheck.
Although, we sleep even better when we can do both!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In 2017, my wife and I left our jobs, sold everything, bought an Airstream trailer, and took my nonprofit on the road for the “50 States: Veterans + Artists United” working tour for [HAS HEART].
By 2019, our budgets and bank accounts were “fully utilized,” forcing us to drive back to Michigan to regroup and rebuild. Despite feeling like a failure and out of money, for reasons unknown to me, I felt immense peace and conviction to turn down a Design Director role at a national footwear brand. Maybe that was a mistake, but if I didn’t believe in the work I was doing, we would never have built oneyone, we would never have traveled the country on two more tours from 2020-2023, and we may not be getting ready to open the [HAS HEART] Coffee Shop.
Everyone’s path is different, and their journey is unique. All we can do is follow our gut feelings, pursue our purposes, and make the best decisions possible with the information and insight we have in front of us.
I encourage everyone to work towards something greater than themselves while I remind myself daily to move in peace, build with purpose, and seek more patience. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oneyone.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerdway
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerway
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oneyone_
- Other: https://hasheart.us/coffeeshop