Flav was born in what is now known as São Paulo, Brazil, originally part of the Indigenous lands of the Tupi, Guarani, and Kaingangin people. He developed an early passion for writing, music, and visual art. After completing his studies in social communications in São Paulo, Flav began his career at Small World, his first H1B sponsor, after moving from São Paulo to New York City; there he produced large-scale online games for international markets. After serving as an Art-then-Creative Director at Lumina Americas, a multicultural agency with clients such as Kraft, US Air Force, and Kmart, he co-founded 10012 in 2003. This venture was initiated to attain creative and operational independence, and, crucially, to secure administrative autonomy through the facilitation of his H1B visa sponsorship, thus eliminating the need to rely on other sponsors.
Under 10012, his team executed digital campaigns for Nike, introduced Chase Bank to Spanish-speaking markets, developed games for Bravo TV, HBO, and Showtime, and served as a standalone digital satellite for partners across various industries. During a 14-year collaboration with AARP, Flav and his team constructed the world's largest civil rights story archive, earning them a Webby and an O1 Visa for extraordinary ability in the arts. This O1 Visa subsequently paved the way for an EB1 Visa for permanent residency.
In 2011, Flav established a joint venture with a consulting group based in New York to broaden its capabilities and meet the innovation needs of clients, including IBM, Vanguard, Humana, Vertex, Gilead, and BlueCross BlueShield. In addition to consulting for Fortune 500 organizations, Flav spearheaded other ventures incubated by the same joint venture. One such venture was Rangri, a food delivery platform launched in partnership with UNICEF that used game-like features to help alleviate community hunger-related issues. Another was GoodLife Media™, a precision-communication solution Flav co-founded to empower individuals to prevent and manage chronic conditions through whole-person data. He remains a partner in this business.
In late 2020, Flav faced health challenges, including burnout, prompting a sabbatical in August 2022. By 2023, marking the 20th anniversary of 10012 now d/b/a MASSON, he returned with art as an integral part of his identity, declared 'aliveness' as the pivotal metric for his business. At MASSON, Flav and his team navigate fluid boundaries between A.I., art, branding, product, and design, contributing to the life-centered economy. His work thesis is that dismantling the constraints of being labeled either an 'artist' or an 'entrepreneur' is the work itself, a profound act of subversion against both Taylorism and rigid/conventional categorizations.
Flav lives in Brooklyn.
