Name: Darin Roberge
X, formerly Twitter: @darinmotorwerks
Facebook: facebook.com/DarinMotorwerks
Instagram: darinmotorwerks
Website: motorwerksmarketing.com
Age: 45
Title: President of Motorwerks Marketing
Married/Single: Single
Kids: No Kids
City you live in: Gilbert, AZ
A typical day in my life includes… Due to the diversity of our clients and their differing activities within the specialty, classic and collector automotive industry in which we work, there’s really no typical day at Motorwerks. We’re confronted with new problems and new challenges on a day-to-day basis. With this said, I do start my day the same way every day. Simply put, my feet do not touch the ground until my all of my emails are read and responded to and all of my inboxes are cleared completely. Not only does this allow me to start my day with a clean slate where I don’t feel like I’m being forced to play catch up, but it gives me a sense of accomplishing something right out of the gates and it dictates my list of priorities all at once, before I even get out of bed. I consider that an immediate victory, for which I can build on, it’s something I’ve been doing for years and I don’t see myself changing this anytime soon.
I was born… at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, Colorado while my mother was watching Different Strokes on TV.
My favorite thing about Arizona… Aside from the obvious answer (the weather), I am consistently impressed by the gritty, independent attitudes demonstrated by the people that help paint the canvas of my life here in the valley. I am extremely blessed to be surrounded by positive, personable, intelligent and extraordinarily talented people at nearly every level of my day-to-day existence. From my team at Motorwerks, to our clients, to our various media partners locally, to the checkout people at the grocery stores I frequent and beyond. I find reasons to be excited about life every single day and that is due to the people that I’m lucky enough to spend my life with and their wonderful Arizona state of mind.
I’m listening to… My playlists are generally kind of a random mess. The last 8 things played on my Spotify are albums from Jamiroquai, Napalm Death, Rick Ross, Guns ‘n Roses, Rush, Madball, T.I. and Stevie Ray Vaughn. How we got there, your guess is as good as mine…..
My family… Is incredibly patient and incredibly wise. I would be completely lost without their support and guidance. They are simply the most important piece of my life and I never stop trying to not only be more like them, but to also live up to the example that they have set for me.
If I could have dinner with anyone, it would be… My Grandfather. He was quite a guy and I miss him a lot.
One thing I cannot live without… My crazy Italian Greyhound and all of his shenanigans.
When I was younger, I wanted to be… in a band, make albums and go on tour…… and I grew up and did it!
I’m inspired by… I have a bit of a tendency to find a more than rational degree of inspiration from the word “can’t”. If somebody tells me that something is impossible, it sort of flips a switch in my head and then I have to figure out how to pull it off. On that same token, I’m kind of a dreamer and I like to find ways to actually live my dreams (my current existence is no exception). I’m fiercely competitive and also find great inspiration from taking on projects that I deem are much larger than myself. I figure that the best lessons learned are ones taken from competing as far above my weight class as possible and I put myself in the ring with those as much as I can.
The person/people who motivate(s) me is/are… My parents are collectively extremely motivational. I take daily inspiration not only from where they have been individually, but where they continue to go on into the future. I have exceptionally sound role models on my branch of the family tree and I am extremely lucky for that.
If I could change anything in the world, it would be… I would kick the self-insulating, hustle culture ideal and make it cool/safe to openly acknowledge that we as humans need each other, that’s actually a good thing and that together we will always be better than when we are apart. There’s far too much emphasis out there right now on the “lone wolf”, screw everyone and do it for yourself, strictly self-serving type of accomplishment. Unfortunately, longer term satisfaction tends not to live there and you are usually much better off accepting and then building upon happiness as it’s offered, rather than taking unnecessary risks and assuming you are owed some kind of big explosion of success later, just because you dug in and sacrificed everything but the mission at hand. Point is, demonstrate kindness, allow others to do the same in return and open yourself up to the experiences that are the result of both of those things. Self-focused FOMO can certainly drive people to accomplish, but it’s also oftentimes like giving yourself a lethal injection of the same poison you’re trying to avoid in the first place.
The perfect day would be… I’m not necessarily sure how I would really define a “perfect day”. Every day I get up and get to do cool stuff with people that I genuinely respect and care about. My motto for years has been “amazing things with amazing people, in amazing places” and I’ve kind of been living that reality for a really long time now. Is it supposed to get better than that?
My first job was… a Dog Walker at the Boulder County Humane Society. A month or so later, that was joined by refereeing youth basketball games at the YMCA and working the equipment counter at the local guitar store. I did all 3 of these simultaneously from about age 13 (or so) until I was 17. I’ve always been a guy that likes to stay busy.
My favorite escape… is the boxing gym. Nothing erases everything around you quite like a couple dozen hard rounds of the sweet science.
My life… is an endless string of unlikely and seemingly impossible adventures.
I’m currently working on… As high volume an agency as Motorwerks is, I think the better question would be “what aren’t we working on?” If it has to do with classic, collector or specialty automobiles, we’re likely involved somewhere…..
Always… win
Never… lose
Favorite Quote… “Rabbits are the key to life. If you don’t have one hiding up each sleeve, you’ll run out of magic.” – My Father
Biggest Dream… is to get to a place where I’ve run out of ideas and I don’t have anything left to improve on.
My Pet Peeve(s)… I don’t really have any pet peeves at this point. If somebody does something significant that I don’t like, I roll by them, close the windows and leave them in my rear view, out of sight and out of mind. You are either on my team or you aren’t. I don’t have the time or the energy to worry about little annoyances. The bigger picture is the important part. Can we help each other win or not?
