Hats
565 words
ORIGINAL: https://brennan.day/hats/
NOTE: Not a literal hat page! I will have to make that soon.
The roles I wear, sometimes all at once.
Current Hats
Founder / Entrepreneur
- Write Club: Founded 2022, 3 years leadership (President → Founder role after graduation)
- Berry House: Founded August 2025, dual-mission web development studio
- Folk Zone: Self-hosted IndieWeb/Fediverse commons, sole operator
- Fanfiction.lol: Fork of Archive of Our Own, sole operator
Developer
- JAMstack specialist: Eleventy, Hugo, Astro.js, Jekyll (8+ years, 2017-2025)
- Accessibility advocate: A11y-first approach, WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
- Open-source contributor: 20+ maintained projects, 700+ commits, 100+ stars across repositories
- Digital garden builder: brennan.click, a wiki-linked commonplace book
Organiser
- Web Writers' Collective: Helping independent writers find each other across the IndieWeb (organiser, not lead)
Writer
- Independent publisher: 9 books via Amazon KDP and Gumroad totaling 1,500+ pages
- Professional writer: Living wage achieved November 2025 with 24 articles in one month.
- Poet: 5 poetry chapbooks published independently, public writing at B.K. Poetry.
- Essayist: 200+ longform articles on Medium since 2015, achieving 10,000-29,000 views on top performers.
- Literary journalist: Published in Mount Royal University Undergraduate Humanities Review (April 2024), The Reflector, Beeminder Blog (September 2017)
- Daily journal writer: 1,000,000+ words journaled on 750words since September 17, 2011.
Editor
- Write Club founder: Built from handful of students to 100+ members
- Anthology publisher: On the Fringe series, 20+ emerging writers
- Workshop facilitator: Weekly meetings, critique sessions
- Peer reviewer: Academic and creative work
Community Builder and Teacher
- Organizer: Events, workshops, fundraisers
- Fundraiser: Canadian Children's Literacy Foundation, Ripple Foundation
- Workshop leader: Writing craft, web development basics
- Mentor: One-on-one guidance for students and early-career creatives
- Technical writer: Documentation, tutorials, guides
Student
- Recent graduate: BA English Honours, Mount Royal University (April 2025, 3.8 GPA)
- Daily practice: French language learning, chess tactics, coding exercises, reading technical books
- Lifelong learner: Currently enrolled in various online self-directed MOOCs and certification programs.
Volunteer
- Crisis support: 7 Cups, 790+ support chats, 249+ individuals assisted
- Nonprofit consultant: Calgary Vegan Society (2023-present), digital presence, marketing, and branding pro bono
- Pro bono developer: Websites for marginalized communities through Berry House dual-mission model
- Manitoba Métis Federation: Volunteer staff, Social Services (September 2020 - April 2022)
Former Hats
- Sous chef: Rotary Flames House (Aug 2015-Jan 2020, 4+ years, part-time): systems & mise en place, pressure management (busy family mornings), precision/repetition, team coordination, inventory forecasting, health & sanitation protocols
- Housekeeper: ServiceMaster Clean (Aug 2015-Dec 2019, 4+ years, part-time): detail work in hospitals/businesses/schools, standards & consistency (ICU/ER protocols), pride in "invisible" work, physical stamina (up to 30kg lifting)
- Music composer (Augustin): Independent & contract (2011-2016): iteration/revision, releasing work vs perfectionism, end-to-end production to digital publication of 3 albums
- Photographer (qvl): DeviantArt portfolio (Jun 2010): macro nature composition, patience/observation (+300 images; 30,900+ views), manual camera settings (Kodak DX6490), textural detail
How the Hats Fit Together
These roles inform each other:
- Writing improves my code documentation
- Editing sharpens my development feedback
- Teaching clarifies my own understanding
- Community building informs business ethics
- Volunteering reminds me who I'm building for