25 years old • Loveland
Co-owner of Time Emporium Escape Rooms
What’s your occupation? Explain your career, accomplishments and professional highlights.
I am a co-owner of Time Emporium Escape Rooms, Looking Glass Escape Lounge and Polaris Entertainments, our distribution company for building and installing escape rooms around the world. I helped start Time Emporium five years ago and have since grown that to three locations and a bar here in Northern Colorado. I have an incredible team of 25 that has turned my dream and vision into a reality. Two of the escape rooms have been nominated for the top 50 escape rooms in the world, and a few others have won awards from recognized escape room reviewers, including Bullseye/EscapeTheRoomers (Best Set Design: Murder in London, Best Horror Theme: Hotel HELLen, Best Innovator: STAKED A Vampire Tale), TERPECA and The Escape Room Guys.
Tell us about yourself, your history and how you came to be where you are now.
I was born and raised in Colorado and got my first job at Loveland Laser Tag, where I grew through the ranks and showed a passion for escape rooms. The owner eventually gave me an incredible opportunity to partner with him and create this breathtaking journey. I went to Colorado State University before starting Time Emporium, and as it grew, I stepped away from college and fully invested my time into the company. I chose the “head down, grind, work all the time” path, and I’m so grateful for the choice I made.
Tell us something unique about you.
My mom was born and raised in France, so I’m fluent in French and have dual citizenship. This has come in handy many times doing business in foreign countries.
What do you consider the biggest accomplishment or challenge you’ve overcome, either professionally or personally?
My biggest personal accomplishment was summiting Mount Kilimanjaro back in 2019. My two biggest professional accomplishments were having the Loveland location gain more than 2,500 reviews on Google with a perfect 5.0 rating (along with 5.0 in Fort Collins and 4.9 in Estes Park) as well as successfully going out alone and installing an escape room in Ukraine last year.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In 10 years?
I see myself continuing to create memorable experiences for all guests through the love of the staff. I also hope to expand into new markets in Colorado.
What piece(s) of advice would you give to your younger self?
Do what you love and don’t take anything too seriously. Don’t have a fixed plan; have a goal and a vision. Life will get you there through so many ways you don’t expect it to, so roll with it.
What do you think the owner of Loveland Laser Tag saw in you as an employee and future business partner?
I would say that Jeff, my business partner, saw that I was dependable and loyal. It didn’t matter if I was doing the boring or hard work; I’d always put my biggest effort into it. I think he also noticed that I treated his company like my own. I was always calling out areas of improvement and pushing the business to be better. Day to day, I continue to work on the business and look for new opportunities for expansion and improvement within each location. I’m much more involved in selling escape rooms and distributing Pixel games globally as it’s a very new and small team. I’m on the road a lot as the lead installer.
What is the secret to designing a great escape room?
Recognizing that your brain isn’t the only player in the game. Everyone thinks differently, so we have our entire staff design the rooms with us. Having a clear vision of the theme and objective is crucial to keep everyone rowing the boat in the same direction and focusing on the small details, like the story and continuity. Once a room has been constructed, we bring in our graphic designer and sound team to make sure their parts are in line with the specific feeling we’re after. Players want to feel their wins, so making sure that there are easy puzzles to spark feelings of excitement throughout the room while incorporating challenging puzzles to help satisfy that sense of completion is important.
