After years of walking to school uphill, both ways, with no shoes during snowstorms in Duluth, Minnesota and Chicago, James Cannon spent his formative years in a suburb of Pittsburgh.
In 1990, after tasting more beer than books in college, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He left active service and moved to Florida, where he completed a degree in Communications. James later worked for a major media company, and then moved on to a position as managing editor for two national trade publications.