A taste for who Johnnie Aiello is and how he's gotten to where he is today.

Johnnie remembers the day he sold his first ice cream cake. He was a child, only 10 years old. Sitting at the dinner table with the person who taught him how to write the perfect "Happy Birthday" on a cake, his grandfather, the phone rang. Running around the kitchen table to pick up the landline before the ringing stops, his mom was on the other end, with her voice filled with pride, she told him he sold his first cake to a paying customer. He was ecstatic.

What does ice cream have anything to do with this? Because unknown at that time, ice cream started his design career.

When he was three years old, his family took a leap of faith. Ignoring the many "experts" who said it was a bad idea, they started an ice cream shop in a small, 20,000-person NYC suburb. It's the type of place that when a local walks in, you know their order by heart. He loved working there. And 30 years later, you'll still find him working alongside his family scooping ice cream when he goes back to visit.

He ended up leaving the ice cream world for a business and economics degree. After attempting a Masters in Finance in Prague, he dropped out, traveled, and landed in Lisbon, Portugal, where he spent two years obtaining a Masters in Marketing. He moved to Oslo after graduating, thinking he'd instantly find a job. False. He spent 6 months searching for work while learning Norwegian, living frugally, and jumping off tram cars whenever the ticket checkers appeared. You can say that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do at this point in his life.

Why does this matter? These experiences, every single one of them, left a mark, and led him to where he is today. While unemployed, he took a leap of faith and started a real-world gaming company called KaptureIt.

The idea was to recreate capture the flag for the digital era, blending the game we grew up loving with the devices we're attached to today. His vision was to create unique experiences for brands. He started this venture without knowing a single thing about design, development, or gaming. No professional or academic training. He had an idea, jumped in blind, and taught him the necessary skills to get the business off the ground. Those years seeing his parents struggle to build their business gave him the drive to push through the many hard times. The business ultimately failed, but he discovered something. Those four years of building the company, albeit an unsuccessful one in the traditional sense of the word, taught him lessons about himself and set him on his current path.

He thinks back to the passion and work ethic his parents exhibited to make AJ's Country Cone successful. It's something that if asked what's had the most significant impact on his life to date, it wouldn't be the travel, the education, the mistakes, etc. By seeing his parents' hard work and dedication, he knows that he needs to put in the work if he wanted something.

Every project he takes on, and for every person he works with, he brings the same mentality: there is always something to learn. His curiosity is what fuels his never being scared of the unknown. You can contact Johnnie at johnnie@wearedescriptive.com.