Meet Eddie Middleton | CEO/Professional Skateboarder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eddie Middleton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eddie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Before I started my brand I was about 4 years deep at Pizza Hut making minimum wage. I was used to being there and tired of it. I was with a few homies at a local skatepark in ATX during Spring Break thinking about where I was at the moment and how I hated my job because it wasn’t my ideal place to be at at that age. I felt like I was missing something. I wanted to be around my skateboard community which is whom I’ve been surrounded by my whole life, being 15 years into skateboarding. I got on the phone with my job and told them I wasn’t coming back. I got home later that week and started writing down names that I thought were cool and had a good meaning. Weeks later I had thought about how my friends and I that I grew up with had a local “skate team” that we would claim was our “squad” if you will and how we protected that name like our lives depended on it. Our squad was known as team “Daze”. I quickly noticed that THIS WAS THE ONE. I called Tim, one of my best friends to this day who was affiliated with Daze from day one and asked him if I can see his old Daze drawings knowing he still had them in the vault. He brought them to me no questions asked and after a few days of research, I used one of his first drawings for the first graphic and named my brand Daze Skateboards. We’ve been growing strong ever since and it’s only getting better! This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I couldn’t be happier to how far me and my team have came. With a list of very talented underrated skateboarders under my wing, there was no stopping us from that point on. I’m blessed to say I’m the owner of Daze Skateboards.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I love to speak my mind on and off the skateboard and I like to push my squad to be better as people and as sponsored skateboarders. We’re not just a team, we’re a family. I been through plenty of ups and downs to say it wasn’t easy to get where I am today but if you have enough heart and perseverance you can push through anything to make yourself happy. I want people to know that giving up is not the way to go, even if you never get to the goal you wanted to reach, atleast you were happy doing something you loved!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I like to stay around my local friends or businesses that I know from experience. From a bar that my friends work at to a restaurant we all love, wherever they’re working at is where we’re going. There’s also plenty to do downtown from the riverwalk to the many restaurants and spots to take your family in the area!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The HUGEST shoutout to my OG Daze riders, Brent Edelman and Miguel Menendez aka the thinkers behind the name, my dear mama for supporting me from the jump, Paco with KOSA, the artist Tim Gideon, Goodtimes and Deli Skateshop, my talented riders, Jozul Bryon for believing in me, and my beautiful lady and son Denise and Elijah, and last but not least SKATEBOARDING.

Website: Dazeskateboards.com

Instagram: @dazeskateboards

Twitter: @dazeskateboards

Facebook: Daze Skateboards

Youtube: Daze Skateboards

Other: Also found on TikTok @dazestixmo

Image Credits
Wardo Nana Gentry Eric G.