The Story of Life of Dad

Tommy Riles
October 17, 2012

Tommy Riles

Lives in: Los Angeles
Occupation: Comedian & Audience Warm-up, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Life of Dad Founder
Twitter: @tommyriles
Facebook: 575811228

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Life of Dad is fun.  Life of Dad is cool.  Life of Dad is inspiring.  Life of Dad is heartfelt.  Life of Dad is me trying to write this as my daughter runs around the house with markers in her hand.  Life of Dad is the fastest growing parenting community on the web.

If you’re new to the site, you’re probably wondering how did this all begin?

Life of Dad began two years ago as daily updates on my sweet daughter’s health.  Here is my first ever post, written when Babs was just 1 day old.

You see…Babs was born with a heart defect, and battled through life-saving surgery at just 3 days old.  She is the strongest person that I know.

Once Babs was home and healthy, I was able to start breathing some of my personality into Life of Dad, filming comedy shorts, such as Baby vs. Burrito.

Interest in the website began to increase greatly, particularly when my family appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” sharing our daughter’s inspirational journey.  I’ve worked at “Ellen” for seven years now, as her audience warm-up comic.  Yes…she is that nice.

The incredible outreach we received in support of our appearance made me realize that I want this website to mean something more than comedy…I want to give back at the same time as making people laugh.  I started doing fundraisers such as Tiny Heart Superheroes, as well as rapping for charity.

Along the way, a friend of mine, David Guest, who is an incredible video director and producer wanted to help.  He started shooting and producing Life of Dad’s best shorts, and we created the concept of a Dad-chelor Party.  This concept has since been featured on ABC’s Nightline and in The Huffington Post.

About a year ago, David and I brought web developer extraordinaire Ryan E. Hamilton on board, and he has helped transform Life of Dad into the coolest destination for dads on the web.

Add in the endless support of my wife, and three of the best fathers I know…my dad and my two brother-in-laws…and Life of Dad has become a machine.  Plus, I’ll never run out of content because we welcomed a baby boy, Tommy, to our family in December!

Now, Life of Dad is the blogging capital of the Daddy world.   We already have over 100 awesome writers, each sharing their own unique take on parenting.

It’s very exciting to announce that now anybody can join the site, as Life of Dad is the first-ever social network for fathers!  When you register, you are automatically sent to your online profile.   There, you can interact with other dads, hang out, or start blogging yourself.

On the philanthropic side, Ralph’s Grocery Company will donate $1 to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (where Babs had surgery) for each person that joins the site.

Life of Dad wants YOUR parenting voice to be heard, and we want YOU to join the fastest growing community of fathers on the web.  Join Life of Dad today.

Thank you for believing in us, sharing this with your friends, and for all the support you have given Life of Dad over the past 2.5 years.

-Tommy Riles

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