The best time to do anything is when it feels right – our next guest aspires to follow this philosophy and believes in chasing whatever energy in his life is pulling him towards.
Please welcome, Scott.
What You Need To Know
- Was a swimmer for 12 years.
- Grew up in Oklahoma before coming to Austin.
- Future roommate of a previous society guest.
Scott and I snagged time directly after Ryan at Halcyon. I opted for another IPA while Scott went in on a Mezcal Espresso Martini.
We dive in.
“I grew up in Oklahoma and essentially was there till I moved to Austin.” Scott explains. “I spent my childhood there and went to college there. I pretty much knew in 7th grade that I was gay but had the typical mental turmoil of if I should come out or not. I was never really bullied, but people knew and made it apparent at times.”
But as senior year came around, Scott decided to tell some of his friends – and something exceptional happened.
“So, senior year of high school came, and I told some people. Then, New Year’s rolled around, and I went to a massive party and took some photos with champagne bottles with some of my girlfriends. I showed my dad the photos and he was like ‘why don’t you date these girls they are all so pretty!” Both Scott and I laugh. “My stepmom who I consider my real mom came out of the bathroom and said ‘so, are you gay or what?’ We both laugh harder, again. “She then comes out with a bottle of 1942 and said let’s take shots and go to dinner!”
But before we go further – this is only half of the story, Scott’s stepmom has been his full time mom since he was 5.
“My stepmom has been my rock – she came and picked us up during the worst time of my life.” Scott’s birth mother struggled with substance abuse. “My parents divorced when I was only four, so having my stepmom step up like she did was just what we needed.” Scott explained.
Let’s pick back up after the 1942 shots.
“When I came out that night there was a lot of crying and hugging and emotions – it was such a positive experience and I realize not a lot of people had the support I had” Scott explains. “I feel lucky to have the support system I have – after I came out, everything in life got better. A weight was lifted and life just jumped forward.”
We love to see this type of support from those we love – if there’s one thing everyone has in common it’s this – we all desire to be who we are at our core. In Scott’s case – the support of his parents allowed him to feel more comfortable in his skin and move forward.
We talk about people who may have given him a hard time in high school.
“I don’t hold any resentment towards people in high school who may have been hard on me, I was friends with all the hot girls so in the end they wanted to be friends with me anyway!” Scott and I laugh big again, for the third time in 10 minutes and people in the bar start to laugh with us, not knowing a thing of what we are talking about except that it looks like we are having fun – which we are.
I asked how he came to Austin.
“I had been hanging in Dallas and met Mason and Keenan and started coming to Austin and met so many amazing people. I graduated college in 2022 on a Friday and packed up my stuff and was on the road moving to Austin that Monday” Scott explains.
Now that he is here, what’s next?
“Honestly I’m still exploring what I’m passionate about – I’m just giving myself time to explore what I want to do, and I just have so much openness for self-discovery.” Scott describes. “My core group of people here are so talented – I love being around them because it inspires me to discover what my thing is for me, it’s truly a gift to be surrounded by these people.”
We close, in typical fashion.
“Expectations are pre-meditated resentments – If you have any expectations and someone doesn’t live up to it, you’ll resent it. You need to have faith in yourself – it’s hard to not get caught up in the fantasy of what could be – sometimes you just need to go in with a straight head. I find that there’s always a good and bad side to both stories and it may be very libra of me to say, but how you bring whatever it is your going through to light shows what type of person you are.”
Scott is one of those people that’s just fun to be around – he brings the energy, the passion and the openness to be inspired by others – it’s the fuel to his own flame. Like many of us, he came to Austin to be around so many creative, authentic and motivational people… little does he know, the story he is telling here today will inspire others – just like his core group here inspires him, and for that – we thank you Scott.