The Origin Story of Brett Kelly
What name do you use on the Internet?
Historically, I've been "inkedmn," but you've asked me this during what Jules Winnfield would call a transitional period. For services that I use heavily—Twitter and Instagram, most notably—I've changed it to "mrbrettkelly."
Do you keep the same name everywhere?
Most services still know me as inkedmn as I've been too lazy or disinterested in making the change.
Where did it come from?
I think it was in 1999; one of my roommates asked me if I wanted an email address. I said "sure" without giving it much thought and fell asleep. I woke up and found a note where he'd scrawled "[email protected]" along with the password he'd chosen for me. I used that handle for 15 years, which is a little crazy.
What does it mean to you?
Well, I have a lot of tattoos, so "inkedm[a]n" was a somewhat obvious choice for my buddy who set up the account.
True story: I actually have a tattoo of "inkedmn" converted to hexadecimal around my left forearm.
Why did you choose it?
I didn't really; it might be more accurate to say it chose me.
Do you ever think of changing it?
Yep! As much as I appreciate the rich history of the inkedmn moniker, I figured that it was time to switch to something a little more professional (since I make my living producing stuff online).
Why do you / don’t you use your real name?
I do, now. Not doing so initially wasn't driven by a privacy concern or anything.
What was your first internet screen name?
inkedmn :)
What is your favorite name you’ve seen in your travels across the net?
I'm a huge fan of my brother's handle: ta2yerface (he's a tattoo artist).
Whose origin story would you like to hear next?
Funny thing: nothing sprang to mind when I read this question, so I started skimming my Twitter timeline for inspiration and realized that easily 90% of the people I follow use their real name (or some variation/derivative) as their username. So, I think I'm going to have to punt on this one.
Now that people have heard your story, where can they go to find out more about you?
The two best places to find my stuff are on Twitter (@mrbrettkelly) and on my site, https://brettkelly.org.