spent the next five years working as a stage and commercial actor during the day; and as a ramp agent and eventual Load Planner for DHL Airways at night. 

While all of the promise and energy of a young life was unfolding Matt also began battling severe sinus issues. The illness eventually spread to his lungs and culminated in a two-and-a-half-decade long battle to feel whole. His healthcare battles included six surgeries, a bankruptcy, and feelings of deep isolation. The frustration of being unable to breathe properly, and the sensory deprivation that accompanied it, led to social isolation and a cynicism toward the exaggerated promises and hero worship of American work culture, and it's claims that struggling people somehow deserve the difficult circumstances under which they barely survive.  Struggling merely to breath, he knew better.

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And he pressed on to Los Angeles in 2000. While continuing to pursue and study acting he continued working in freight and also became a Fitness Trainer. This, with his background as a wrestler also found him moonlighting as a Bouncer in the Hollywood nightclub scene. The hours he maintained working back-to-back first and third shift jobs deepened his illness and forced him to slow down and to change course. By 2012 he left the nightclub scene and started taking architectural drawing and design courses at LACC while continuing to serve his private clientele as a Trainer. Matt thrived in community college. While there, a chance research project introduced him to glass kiln casting.

By 2015, slowed by illness, but encouraged by a love of the weird rigors of glass sculpting and cold working, Matt opened a small studio in a rented garage in Cypress Park, Los Angeles. Having no guidance and no backing, he funded the studio by continuing to Fitness Train and by jumping into gig work as a Lyft Driver. Over the course of 5 years, he produced several works and many sketches of works he hoped to create in the future. When the COVID lockdown hit, he was forced to close shop as his jobs and income dried up. 

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At the beginning of 2020, he began a course of new medicine that finally mitigated the horrible, 25-year nightmare of illness. No longer young, he also found himself afflicted by Hashimoto’s Disease and was the recipient of a heart pacemaker. The damage of working hard through years of illness had been done. 2020 brought him the gift, though, of breath and rest.  Matt was reconnected with his senses, and to enjoyment of life thanks to California's socialized medicine and the Pandemic Relief payments. The respite was needed, and he felt, deserved. In December of 2021, he followed his partner of 11 years to the San Francisco Bay Area and began working for none other than his old friend and mentor, David Ruth. Matt continues to learn from and to work for David. As his new works develop, little by little, Matt is fulfilling his goals , growing as a unique artist and most of all, just enjoying feeling whole.