Jamie O’Brien is his own media outlet. During the course of his career, aside from attaining most every goal he’s set out to achieve, like winning the Pipe Masters and owning a home overlooking his favorite wave, he’s also become a prolific creator of content. As he puts it, he’s cracked the code.

While huge corporate entities have worked at building brands around the Banzai Pipeline, Jamie, who grew up on the sand there, was able to elbow his way in with the big boys, creating as authentic a brand as any of them. Yet his surf story is a juxtaposition: his background is as "core" as it gets but his vlog reaches an audience that spans well beyond surfing.

I visited Jamie at his house overlooking the most famous wave in the world (it was a lot more clean and orderly than you’d imagine) where we talked about Jamie’s show going independent, how much he loves creating videos and what core actually means in the modern world of surf.