I'm Not The Beardsmith™, I Just...

In trying to complete the thought in the title, several options come to mind:

• ...play one on the internet.

• ...help manage some of the nuts and bolts behind the scenes.

• ...have my own personal Beardsmith™.

• ...sleep with the real Beardsmith™.

Any of which would be accurate. Let me introduce myself: I'm Jeff Summers. I'm a software developer, a more-amateur-than-I'd-like-to-be photographer, and I'm the partner (in business and in life) of Wendy Rose. She is the one and only Beardsmith™. She's the one who tossed corporate life in order to dive--pretty much blindly--into a new venture for which she had no experience. She's the one with the sick Beard grooming and razor fading skills. It's her passion for generally helping guys look their best, and more specifically her passion for the Beard part of them, that makes her so amazing at her craft.

Though she is The Beardsmith™, as with our non-business partnership, where you find one of us, you're sure to find the other. We're each very distinct, very independent, individual people with a strong sense of self, yet when we come together it's almost as if we meld into a single energy source with a singular focus. It's really hard to describe, it sounds a little weird, and it's really damn cool. When she decided to pursue a path that has ultimately become The Beardsmith™, it was natural for me to support her in any and every way I possibly could. I knew even before she started that she was going to be hugely successful.

So in one sense, she and she alone is in fact The Beardsmith™. I'm more than happy to let her flourish in her success, because it's well deserved due to her sacrifice, hard work, diligence and passion. But she always says it's been a team effort. She would tell you I'm the inspiration for what she does, but the reality is my Beardedness has been completely inspired by her. The self-effacing part of me wants to wave off the notion that I have anything to do with where she is, but we do make a pretty good team, and we feed off of each other's energy, excitement and ideas. She wanted me to be the face of The Beardsmith™ blog, to give some of my perspective on Bearded life. So here I am.

I'll be posting regular updates about all things Beard. If something non-Beard-related comes to mind, I'll probably find a way to weave the Beard into it. Both Wendy and I are straight-forward, no BS people, so I'm going to keep things real here. I'm hoping this will become the gateway for discussions about Beards, life and whatever else may come up. I really hope you find The Beardsmith™ Blog to be either a) useful; b) entertaining; c) at least intriguing enough to keep coming back.

Stay tuned, grab your Aquafina and let's take this punk rock party up a notch!

jeff