Daily Inspiration: Meet Dev Archuleta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dev Archuleta

Hi Dev, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
“Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one”—a quote that’s always resonated with me. I’ve never been the type to stick to just one thing. Instead, I’ve always felt drawn to explore, to experience as much of life as I possibly can.

I was born and mostly raised in Portland, Oregon, by my mom, alongside two of my brothers. We moved around quite a bit, but we always had each other. My mom loved us more than anything and did everything she could to give us what we needed—and often what we wanted, too. Looking back, I feel incredibly lucky to have had a childhood where I was free to try so many different things. That freedom to explore is what shaped me and eventually led me to where I am now: living in Los Angeles, working as a freelance chef, studying music production in college, and spending my free time skating at the Venice Beach Skatepark.

Through all those childhood experiments—dabbling in whatever caught my interest—I discovered three passions that stuck with me: skateboarding, cooking, and music. I’ve tried plenty of other hobbies along the way, but these three are the ones I keep coming back to, no matter how much time has passed.

Skateboarding has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It’s more than just a way to get around—it’s a source of freedom and connection. Whether I was skating to work through Portland’s rainy streets or cruising the Venice boardwalk, there’s something about the rhythm of the board that feels almost meditative. Skating has also taught me resilience: when you fall, you just have to get back up and try again. That lesson has carried over into so many other parts of my life.

Cooking, on the other hand, started out of necessity but quickly turned into a passion. My mom worked hard to keep us fed, and I loved being in the kitchen with her. Over time, I fell in love with the process, even eventually pursuing it professionally. Cooking feels like an art form to me, not unlike music. It’s all about finding the right balance, creating harmony, and sometimes breaking the rules to come up with something unexpected. Now, as a freelance chef, I get to share that love with others. Feeding people feels like my way of connecting with them.

And then there’s the one that’s most dear to me: music. If skateboarding gives me freedom and cooking gives me craft, music is my soul. I’ve always been drawn to sound, even as a kid—I would spend hours listening to music and hyper-fixating on every aspect. It just spoke to me. I eventually convinced my poor mother to buy me an electric guitar for my 15th birthday, and ever since then it’s been a constant in my life. I genuinely don’t think I can live without it. It’s just apart of me at this point. After learning on my own and with friends for a while, I ended up going to school for my associates in music with a focus on performance. And although I didn’t finish that degree, I never stopped playing or improving. I continued to write and release music until I finally decided to actually take it serious and move to the entertainment capital of the world: Los Angeles.

When I decided to move to LA I had never even stepped foot in the state, I just knew it’s where I needed to be. And the only path I knew was cooking. At the time I was working in one of Portland’s top steakhouses, and had been in kitchens for almost a decade. I knew if I wanted to get to LA, it would have to be through the kitchen, at least in the beginning. I went online applied for over 50 different jobs in the culinary industry, landing just one single interview for a sauté chef in a really nice restaurant in Brentwood. I flew down for a three day stage and nailed it. I was hired. A month and a half later I had all of my belongings crammed into a van with my cat, Shelby next to me, driving a thousand miles away from home.

I worked there for about a year before I decided I wanted more freedom and flexibility in my life. I loved cooking, but I knew the professional environment would slowly become a prison. When I’d cook for folks in the entertainment industry I’d experience FOMO, like I wasn’t on the right path. I knew I had to do something. So I started finding gigs on craigslist until I had a consistent repertoire of work. It allowed me to be in control of my time again. I now had the time to start my studies.

Never in my life did I think I’d be going to school on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood; just saying it feels unreal to me. I find myself incredibly lucky to have been given this opportunity. Had I never been hired in Brentwood, it’s highly unlikely I’d be in the state of California at all and able to pursue a degree in Music Production at The Los Angeles Film School.

Skateboarding, cooking, and music—these three passions are like puzzle pieces that make up who I am. They’re connected by a shared thread of creativity, movement, and growth. I’ve never aimed to master any one thing, and I don’t intend to start now. Each of these pursuits feeds into the others, keeping life rich and full of possibility. For me, that’s what it’s all about.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey has truly been anything but smooth, and has unfortunately been marked with many obstacles.
Growing up my family wasn’t financially well-off by any means. Being raised by my mom she gave us everything she could, but to put it frankly, sometimes shit happens. When the water heater broke and there was no money to fix it, we took baths with water heated on the stovetop. There were more times than I could remember when the power went out or the water got shut off due to non-payment. Lots of nights scraping for food in the house, sometimes having bread and butter for dinner. My mother worked her ass off to provide, but being a single mother in the midst of the ’08 recession with three young boys isn’t easy, and sometimes you can only give so much.
Thankfully, through my mother’s hard work, things eventually things got better and we all grew into healthy adults, each working towards our own goals.
When I was 19, I’d been hired in a bank with my best friend, working for his mom/my godmother. It was my first ‘real’ job, and I felt very proud of myself. I was in school for music, I was making my own money and living on my own, I felt amazing. Unfortunately that was short lived.
I had been renting out the mother-in-law suite in a high school friend’s backyard when I tragically experienced a house fire. It was an electrical fire due to poor wiring and I lost everything I owned except Shelby. And had I not sprung into action to save her, she wouldn’t be here either. I had been inside the main house when the fire ignited, so by the time I walked back outside, it was up in smoke. I tried the door, but I’m assuming the heat had already warped the wood to the point where I couldn’t open it, so I had to kick it open. When I ran inside and realized the entire mattress was on fire, I immediately started searching for my baby. The oxygen from kicking open the door fed the fire, so I had to act quick. I looked everywhere and eventually found Shelby, alive-but angry- underneath the bed which was now completely engulfed in flames, so much that the walls were on fire and I couldn’t see or breathe. I was genuinely afraid I might die, so I just ran in a straight line towards the door. I made it to the main house, and then managed to run next door to warn the neighbors because their shop was only a few feet away. After the 70 year old neighbor hopped the fence and tossed me a fire extinguisher, we controlled the flames just long enough for the fire department it arrive and put it out. I lost everything, but I was alive and so was Shelby.
The fire was very traumatic for me, to the point where I left school because I couldn’t focus on my studies. I continued to work in kitchens over the next 6 years, continually seeking nicer and nicer restaurants. Before finally, in 2022, I faced the catalyst that really forced me to reevaluate my life: The death of my older brother.
My older brother, Jason died for medical reasons I won’t disclose, and it just completely shattered my entire family. Just a couple weeks prior I was talking with him on the phone about our favorite strains of cannabis and also our birthdays. It just didn’t feel real not having him there. Then the reality of my own mortality quickly set in, and I started to panic. The reality that I could lose everything so quickly hit me like a Mack truck. This is what pushed me to apply to those jobs, move to California, and join the music industry.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I truly do a little bit of everything. From being a photography assistant, to high-end catering, all the way down to picking car parts and even arm-wrestling in NoHo for money. really a jack-of-all-trades.
As I mentioned before, when I first got to LA I was working in a brick and mortar restaurant, but the rigid schedule proved to be too much for me to handle so I turned to Craigslist. I would wake up, refresh the gigs and jobs pages, scroll through those and respond to anything I thought I was capable of. Then repeat the process, every hour until I went to bed, then I’d wake up and repeat the process. It led me down many paths, allowing me to try all sorts of fun and not-so-fun jobs. Though, naturally, I have a tendency to gravitate towards cooking since that’s what I know I’m good at. I currently work for three different catering companies, but I’ve previously worked for as many as eight at one time; filling in every moment I could with work.
I’m currently saving for my own catering/vending business with my best friend, projecting to launch early 2026. We have an entire menu, and we plan to announce more in 2025. I also privately offer kitchen consultation with a focus on catering and vending, as well as musical consultation, with a focus on composition and production.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
As far as the music industry goes, I’m hoping to see a rise in musicians fighting for some form of unionization. They’re some of the least protected professionals in the industry, yet they’re the face of it. Hopefully we see an eradication of 360 deals, as well as streaming services being restructured to payout artists more fairly.
I know AI is already gaining momentum, and depending on how it’s utilized, it will either be greatly beneficial or detrimental for the industry. Whether that be through AI-controlled algorithms suggesting playlists, or artists outright using AI to make music, it’s important to stay mindful and remember what being a musician truly means: Authenticity. I believe artists are going to continue pulling away from traditional label deals, and keep pushing for independent releases so they can get the money they deserve. I don’t think record labels are going anywhere, but I do believe they may begin restructuring how they work with artists in coming years, depending on the obstacles they face.
I think hiphop as a whole will become more unifying, with less division, and more folks lifting each other up. I believe Kendrick’s music and the messages behind them have been greatly beneficial for Los Angeles specifically, as well as hiphop as a whole. He’s tearing down walls and bringing people together in ways that’s never been seen before, and I think that if we continue in that direction, we may see a beautiful union across the genre as a whole. Maybe even a revamp of the HipHop Declaration of Peace.

Pricing:

• Kitchen Consultation – $250/day
• Musical Consultation/Inquiries – $100/project
• Arm Wrestling Training – $50/hr

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/devinfuckingill
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Vw7uvGiV8KXE6nf9fAjYq?si=2Cx_TwyDQHmlh5CCWkWyGQ

Image Credits
Grace Risinger
Benjamin Chodan
Michael Graham
James Rusler