Michael D Norton

Michael D Norton (born 1988) is a US Navy veteran, marketing strategist, physicist, and writer.

Michael Norton
Norton in Iceland, 2016
Born
Michael Dwayne Paris Norton

1988 (age 33)
EducationB.S. Internet Marketing, Full Sail University
B.S. Physics, University of York (still attending)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics

Engineering physics

Consumer psychology
WebsiteWolvenIndustries.com
OMIFirm.com

Norton has been referred to as one of the “5 underrated technological geniuses of the 21st century” by TechTimes Magazine.[1]

Early life

Norton was born and raised in New Jersey, United States. His early life involved a series of traumatic experiences.

Born out of wedlock, his father was murdered when he was four years old due to drug-related violence. This left Norton to spend most of his childhood in a single-mother home. Norton experienced homelessness two times as a child. He was abused and hospitalized twice for malnourishment. Though, his family lacked the money for proper medical care.[2]

Without money to buy batteries, to entertain himself while he was nine years old, Norton created batteries from random household objects and salt that he’d use to power his GameBoy.[1]

This ability was mistaken as witchcraft by his step-father, which led to further abuses of up to 9-month periods involving solitary confinement, publicly burning Norton's clothes, and beatings in the shower.[1][2]

Military career

Norton enlisted in the United States Navy as a non-commissioned officer at the age of 19, starting his naval career in the early 2000s at Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school.

However, he eventually became a naval computer IT the same year, supporting all US military branches operating in the Middle Eastern theater in the global war on terrorism with a top secret FBI security clearance.[1] He managed satellite communications for both conventional and special operations on two deployments: one on land in Bahrain, and another at sea on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.[3]

He wrote a memoir titled Fighting for Redemption during this time detailing his life and military experiences.[3][4]

Career and education

After the military, Norton became an English teacher and taught English in Xi’an, China for four years without having completed any college degree. He earned the job after becoming the top of his Chinese language class in college.[3]

Internet marketing

While teaching, he digitally enrolled in Full Sail University to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Internet Marketing. He used this knowledge to create OMI Firm in 2014, an international marketing agency serving multinational corporations as an expert in varying elements of consumer psychology.[3] OMI Firm was recognized as one of the top Virginia-based marketing companies in 2021.[5]

Wolven Industries

While working as both a marketing strategist and English teacher, in 2017, he was accepted for an honors degree in physics by the University of York, through the OpenPlus program.[6]

Several years later, before having completed his physics degree, he used the experience he gained working with corporations to start Wolven Industries, a technological engineering firm,[6][7] after earning an honorary Estonian citizenship.[4]

Norton raised $200,000 as a marketing strategist, consulting corporations via the Internet. He used task management tools like Slack, Asana, and Fusion 360 to build a fully remote mechanical and electrical engineering team.[8]

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, he built a fully functional engineering firm by hand in his house.[9][1]

Within a year of finishing his at-home laboratory, Norton filed for multiple patents. His patents include high-powered explosives, and hand-held electromagnetic disinfection devices.[4][1]

Originally, Norton planned to pitch the company’s ideas primarily to military contracting opportunities. However, the pandemic forced him to pivot to serving a general civilian audience as well with his innovations aimed at helping others with the pandemic.[6]

Handheld UV-C light cleanser uRay

One of Norton’s innovations, a hand-held UV-C light cleaning device, was featured in the media during 2021 due to it being designed to fight pathogens like the COVID-19. It’s described as more potent and faster than similar devices on the market and able to kill bacteria and viruses in seconds.[10][8]

Called the "uRay," it is marketed to both civilians and government to help "adapt urban environments to new necessities" especially those pertaining to the pandemic.[11]

The Vannoken forge

Another one of Norton's innovations pertain to a forge capable of melting steel with a third of the electricity most engineers use.[1]

AI assistant Nova

In 2021, Norton began to receive news attention as a scientist after releasing images of an artificial intelligence assistant he developed, named “Nova,” which is based on an imaginary childhood friend of the same name that Norton personified in his memoir.[4]

Norton markets Wolven Industries to his social media following with a presence that's been described as "caring."[10]

Currently, he works as the CEO of both OMI Firm and Wolven Industries from his home.[4][3]

Personal life

Due to his varying traumas, Norton struggled with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.[3]

After leaving the military, he tried to return home, but was banished from his home for writing his life story in Fighting for Redemption. As a result, he became a homeless veteran, and lived under the Rt. 42 bridge in New Jersey.[3]

While homeless and still suffering with poor mental health, he focused heavily on his schoolwork that the GI bill paid for, leading into his position as an English teacher.[3]

Without medication, Norton was forced to provide for himself while coping. He lived in the Chinese wilderness of the Xi’an mountains, at an altitude above cloud-level, for four years, coming down to enter the city to teach children when the semester was in and then returned to the mountains when the semester was out.[3]

References
  1. Hamilton, Ernest (October 21, 2021). "5 Underrated Technological Geniuses of The 21st Century You've Never Heard Of". Tech Times. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  2. "Two Cures For Income Inequality: Government Intervention vs. Individual Empowerment". PolitiPeeps. September 3, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  3. Reporter, L. L. B. (September 17, 2021). "Forged by chaos: How this technology firm overcame the challenges of the pandemic". London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  4. Editorial, Tech Company News (October 11, 2021). "Wolven Industries Provides Technology For Repairing, Protecting, And Preparing The Family For The Future". Tech Company News. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  5. "Top Email Marketing Companies and Startups in Virginia (2021)".
  6. "5 Business Skills To Help Entrepreneurs Succeed During A Pandemic". Swaay. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  7. "How Have Businesses Adapted To COVID-19? - Space Coast Daily". spacecoastdaily.com. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  8. Journal, Dale Weinbaum, Special to California Business (October 1, 2021). "Mike Norton's 5 Tips to Scale Your Startup During the Pandemic - California Business Journal". Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  9. "How Wolven Industries is Fighting COVID-19 with UV-C Light". Vents Magazine. September 13, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  10. Success, Insights (October 20, 2021). "Invaluable Business Lessons Entrepreneurs Learned from the Pandemic". InsightsSuccess. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  11. "How Can We Make Public Spaces Safer?". Market Business News. November 2, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
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