I was so afraid that my dad would disappear. He was the constant in my life. In the life of my family and friends. There was only one G.B.

That fear of him disappearing emerged in the aftermath of losing him to a freak brain bleed in 2022. Thinking about it now, it still feels like some crazy fever dream.

I began noodling ideas of how to keep my pops in the forefront of my mind.

First, I made stickers of an iconic bobblehead drawing of him that my mom commissioned in the '80s. Then, I got that bobblehead tattooed on my leg accompanied by five things my pops loved (more on  that later). I had our good friend, and amazing designer Chase Bendik, mock up a "Mardi Gator" version of the bobblehead and then proceeded to plaster it on plastic cups I threw to over 50,000 strangers at Mardi Gras.

Still, his presence felt fragmented. The reality that I would never get a text, phone call, or a hug was raw and painful. It still is. 

He wasn't there to help my brother and I fry fish for the rehearsal dinner at my wedding, a menu he had prepared a few months before he died. I thought about him missing that day, and then my mind spiraled into realizing he won't be there for so many more milestones that occur. I also thought about all of the people that would never get to meet him.

These realizations made my attempts to keep him present seem meaningless and pointless. 

One night I was listening to some old voicemails I had saved and came across one from April 2018:

Hey son. I’m going to have you a part time job this summer. Seriously thinking of doing Bo-Hawg Seafood…get a little building outside of the office and sell shrimp, make gumbo, west indies salad, oyster salad. Seriously. Cash money. Might need somebody to help me.

The Bo-Hawg® is one of the five items tattooed around the bobblehead. I had been looking at it everyday. I have an original Bo-Hawg® t-shirt from the 1980s incorporated into a quilt that my friend made me that I use all the time.

My pops loved The Bo-Hawg®.  It is the namesake of a failed charter-fishing business that he, my two grandfathers, and uncle started in the mid-'80s. The logo is what we call "The Pig Fish." There's a lot more lore and legend to the fishing side of this, but I will save that for later. He tried to rebrand it throughout his life, but it just couldn’t seem to get traction. 

After hearing that voicemail, thinking about the tattoo and the blanket, the answer to how I could share my pops with the world was obvious: Bo-Hawg®.

It is one his most beloved creations that never got the props he felt it deserved.

So, let me introduce to the brand that is for anyone with the mindset that life’s purpose is ultimately doing what you love with the people you love.

It is for souls that are active, bold and adventurous. It is for humans that prefer to chill, relax and lay in the cut. It is for those that are a little bit of everything all rolled into one. 

Our designs are a nod to the inspiration that started it all - my dad, whose vibes continue to fuel our fun-loving style.