Tyler Massey grew up in Ortonville Michigan, a small-town half way between Detroit and Flint (not nearly as scary as it sounds). Growing up, Tyler developed a love for filmmaking and storytelling. After high school he headed out to California to have a go at entering the film industry. After working on several independent and student films, Tyler began to realize that California wasn’t exactly the place for him (mainly because it sucks). So, he moved back to Michigan and began working in the burgeoning film industry (propped up by cronyist tax incentives, of course). As the tax incentives dried up and the economy got worse Tyler decided to go to work for his family’s finish carpentry business, traveling around the eastern US, working his way up from Apprentice to Foreman within a few years.

While working and traveling Tyler had a desire to learn about all of the things that his public-school education had neglected to teach him. So, he started reading everything that interested him from ancient philosophy to modern mathematics and a bunch of stuff in between. Fortunately, one of those topics was economics. Even MORE fortunately, the first book he stumbled upon in the field of economics was “Basic Economics” by the great Thomas Sowell. The knowledge contained in that book was unlike any Tyler had encountered before. Unlike the theoretical nature of philosophy and mathematics, the principles of economics and, more importantly, their implications are immediately recognizable to anyone with any world experience. While sitting in his work truck at lunch reading Sowell’s chapter on prices, Tyler thought to himself “Oh, so that’s how the world works!” and with the beautiful realization that the world is structured such that Prosperity and Freedom walk hand in hand, Tyler knew that his talents and efforts needed to be focused towards spreading that knowledge.

After saving his money for the next couple of years, Tyler stopped traveling and settled in Colorado, the state which seemed to him to be on the most direct path to Freedom. He started taking Math and Econ classes at CU Denver while still working remotely on the office side of his family’s business. Tyler joined the local chapter of Young Americans for Liberty and, through them, was given the opportunity to participate in a summer internship here at II. It was immediately obvious that II was the organization that was most dedicated to promoting true Freedom in Colorado, a state that was in far more danger of straying from the path of Liberty then Tyler had previously realized. So, after finishing his internship, Tyler stayed in touch with the friends he made at II and waited for his chance to jump in and help once more.

A year or two later, a job opened up in the Creative Labs department at II and Tyler jumped at the opportunity to put his love for filmmaking and storytelling to good use in the cause of Freedom. He is now the Digital Assets Manager, in charge of Social Media, at II (a title which he’s fairly certain is made up) and is having a great time spreading the ideas of Freedom and fighting the Californication of his adoptive State.