Biography
Born December 15, 1980, in Macon, Georgia, I was the first and only child of parents Michael and Mary Ann. When their marriage began to dissolve in 1984, my mother and I began several years bouncing between Macon, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Cork, Ireland and Detroit, Michigan. We finally put down roots in Detroit in 1987, where I still live today.
My early years involved much accelerated education. Teachers noticed I had inclination towards math and science and encouraged my mother and stepfather to push me froward. In 1989, at the age of 8, I was recognized by the State of Michigan as ranking in the top 1 percentile of students on standardized testing for children 5 years older than myself. Additionally, between 1987 and 1992, I took several top prizes in local and state science fair competitions for subjects involving computers and physics. Later in life, these achievements help me gain scholarships to attend Wayne State University and the University of Michigan.
Around this same time, I began what has become a life long love affair with music. I was fortunate enough to have the ability to take guitar and piano lessons for several years. This came to a head in 1995 when I managed sell the rights to several pieces of work to a Japanese marketing firm for use in promotional videos. A year later in 1996, I took this love of music to a more professional level and started a successful artist management firm exclusively for local musicians. This was my sole source of income until I sold the business to a partner in early 2000.
With the money from the sale of the business, I was able to redirect my focus into yet another passion of mine, computers. For years, I have been programming as a hobby, but I wanted more for myself. As a way to improve my skill set, I began working with several open source projects from web server software to bulletin board systems. I also began working freelance as a web developer for many businesses, local and national, based out of Detroit.
If you wish to know more, you can buy the book “Heineken and Computers: The Tragic Story of Juvenall Wilson”, in stores Summer 2021.
