It started with art. I’ve been notably creative ever since I was a little kid. I loved drawing pictures, building things, and when we got our first PC, it was making music and painting with Microsoft. But I also really enjoyed playing Lemmings. I liked puzzle games. I was good at math. And as athletic as I was, I found myself staying in during 5th grade recess to battle Mrs. Mallard in chess. In addition to that, I’ve always aspired to be a good person, do good in this world, and leave it better than I found it. These elements would be the foundation of my journey.
Probably like most of my fellow classmates, I found myself a senior in high school without a clue, especially in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. I’d punt that decision to community college. But at the time, I was considering anything from auto mechanic, to artist, lawyer, or “engineering” (whatever that meant). Not having a plan in college, while seemingly inefficient at the time, may have turned out to be one of the best things to happen for me. I got to explore a plethora of topics and disciplines: ranging from painting and sculpture, to astrology, conceptual physics, rhetoric, and women’s studies. Throughout that journey I began to see what looked like the potential for a harmonic blend of my skills of art and math, in architecture or industrial design. There seemed to be a larger opportunity for variety and novelty in the latter, so I ran with that.
In the ID program at SJSU, I quickly discovered that I loved certain aspects of product design, and less so others. I also discovered I was not anywhere near as exceptional an illustrator as I thought I was. But I had developed a real mission. I was gonna change the world, by designing more sustainable products. Less, energy, greener materials, that kind of thing. I felt like I was finally getting aligned with what I wanted to do. And then I discovered a pivotal little book by Nathan Shedroff, called “Design is the Problem.”
Long story short, I realized there was so much more leverage for impact and sustainability by working higher and higher upstream: by not deciding how to design something, but rather asking, what should we design? This took me down the deep rabbit hole of Design Thinking. This was it; this was exactly what I was called to do — to look at life, people, and society, figure out what matters, and decide what is worth creating. I asked, ‘what moves the human experience forward?’
What moves the human experience forward?
Around the same time, patterns started to emerge in my design coursework: I really excelled at research, distilling information, coming up with ideas (especially novel and ambitious ones), and creating cool names and logos for them. I was taking classes in philosophy, psychology and anthropology. I realized that I lacked in sketching, model building, and spent more time on research than I could afford in order to finish my projects on time. My grades suffered but my work was revealing a real strength: generating seriously innovative solutions, and understanding the importance of designing for people, people seeking specific experiences. Enter human-centered design and marketing.
Leaning into those strengths and interests, I found my head swirling with concepts like circular design, social innovation, systems thinking, branding, business strategy. I found myself jumping on a plane to São Paulo, Brazil, for a fellowship program with the Unschool of Disruptive Design. Totally mind-blown and inspired, I returned LIT UP with a crystalized mission:
Become a world-class master of business, marketing, and design strategy, so I could find innovative, sustainable, impact-driven companies, and help them win.
That was how I was going to combine all of my skills, passions, and ambitions to make a dent in the world.
I took a slight detour into social media marketing, but I was really interested in designing brands. And I seemed to have a knack for it. I started my own marketing and design freelancing gig. One day not long afterward I found myself looking down at my phone about to make a serious life decision, only I didn’t know it. I had registered for a pitch event hosted by Singularity University — only I had totally forgotten, and only remembered when I got an email saying it was about to begin. I really wasn’t in the mood, but I was working on networking more at the time, so I figured I’d pony up and go. And boy did I network that night!
By total chance, as things go, I ran into ‘Silicon Valley’s Mad Man of Brand,’ a sir Damien Foord, and his gang. Two minutes into talking, we got onto brand, and my mind was melting, exploding, and ringing with resonance all at once. I knew I had to do whatever I could to get around this branding guru and his friends. And so I did. I came over every day and found any way to add value: research ideas, whiteboard sessions, and the very frequent philosophical expeditions lasting into the wee hours. Two years later I looked up and we had developed a rich, comprehensive theory and methodology around brand — founded on cognitive science, military intelligence, and guided by a spiritual vision.
The last year and a half has been about testing our ideas, refining our methodologies and processes, developing our business strategy, and productizing our services. I don’t know where this will go, how it will evolve, or what kind of impact it will have on the world. But I know with certainty that it’s a perfect blend of skills, passion, and purpose for me. And with the space and freedom to play within our massive vision of what this could become, there is an infinite pool of possibility and excitement to enjoy together on our journey.
Our little band of misfits out to evolve humanity.
