5-Minute Intro
I’m a 21 year old new graduate from Union College Studying Physics and Computer Science. I was born in San Francisco California and moved to Princeton, NJ where I lived from 1st grade to senior year of high school. This page aims to explain who I am (outside of work) in 5 minutes. Enjoy!
Early Life
Growing up, I was always a curious and deeply obsessive kid. In school, that obsessoin turned into a deep love for math (shoutout rockership math). Outside of school, that curiousity turned into card trick tutorial videos, and yoyoing. Growing up I also spent lots of time outside on my skateboard around Littlebrook elementary school. Some would even say I spent a little too much time.
My parents played a key role in shaping who I have turned into in the past 21 years. My mom, since I can remember, has been the hardest worker that I have ever known. I like to hope that I have inherited her 4am - 5pm work schedule which she religously follows. My dad, I believe passed down some of his writing skills to me, and has shaped the way that I think about creative work to this day.
Along with the people in my life, I think the places from my early life have also played a key role in shaping who I am today. From ages 0-5 I subconciously learned about the benefits of living in California (the weather … and other things). In Princeton, I learned that people play a key role in shaping any physical location. I also learned that there are people much smarter than me.
Some Things I Like
Passion has shaped my life from the beginning, here are some of the passions that have, or continue to consume my mind.
One of my earlier passions in life was card magic. I can remember, like it was Yesterday, grabbing a fresh pack of cards from JaZams and scoping out the Halo Pub Ice Cream line to find willing participants in my show. What I love most about magic is peoples reaction after the flawless execution of a routine. What I hated most at the time was my families reaction to the pre-polished tricks that I presented to them from 3pm - 8pm everyday (understandable). Along with practicing card tricks, I spent many of my earlier years learning about baseball and basketball. Of course, at that time, I thought that I was prepping for a long career in the NBA or MLB.
Come the time that I figured out that I was not going to make it to the league, I had moved from a passion for card magic and yoyo tricks, to a passion for computers. Around this time, after a long season of snowblowing driveways, me and my friends had finally saved up enough money for the new xbox one. This initial exposure to the Xbox one inspired a long relationship between myself, computers, and video games.
Another passion that began developing in my early childhood, and manifested into a time consuming obsession around the end of middle school was fishing. Me and a group of my buddies spent every day of quite a few summers, scoping out google earth and biking to and from fishing spots in our local area. I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours researching lures, learning that black and blue lures are good when the water is muddy, and that the topwater bite is good in the hot sun, and in the rain. Ill spare the rest of the details (look at images below).
By my Freshman year of high school, I decided to build my first PC with the proceeds from my first summer job making sandwiches. If my parents asked me, I reiterated to them that I was doing this so that I could learn more about computers, but in reality, I just wanted every competitive advantage that I could get in Fortnite. Despite my mischevious intentions, this computer did play a key role in shaping my skills today. Eventually, Fornite got boring, but my computer did not. Because of this, I got good exposure to the pre AI coding world and learned lots about software (python. java, js) and hardware.
Another passion that has stuck with me for over 10 years is my love for games. Specifically, my 3 favorite games (can’t pick just one): NLH, chess and monopoly. These games were taught to me around age 7 by my older cousins on Cape Cod, and stick with me to this day. Poker specifically, has lead me down a long path of studying, playing, (and sometimes sulking) but also has allowed me to connect with many people whose wisdom and friendship I value. Games have always motivated me due to my unwavering competitive spirit. I can’t speak on it, but if you have ever competed with or against me, you know what I’m talking about.
I could write about my hobbies and obsessions all day but I’ll spare the details:
What I Care About Now
These days, though my early life experiences still stick with me, I find that they manifest themself into a larger life goals. Most of all, what I care about now is learning new things and developing my skills. Going further, what I now care about is taking the step from being intermediate/advanced to being a master.
Along with this, I have started to care more about health and wellness as well as my work. Over the past 1 year or so, I made a physical transformation that taught me about the power of consistency and goals and also about the power of healthy habits for mental well being. This transformation went hand and hand with the development of Tapd. The way I think about it, Tapd aims to solve phone addiction, while healthy habits like calorie tracking, 10k steps, and going to the gym help deal with everything else. This healthy journey also taught me a lot about honesty, in that you can’t lie about calories or your habits, and if you do, the effects of that dishonesty will manifest as “health debt” whose effects are felt in the future.
What I Am Aiming Toward
I’ll keep this section short and straight to the point:
- competitive environment
- work with people better than me
- room for growth over the course of years
- ability to obsess over work
- Impactful positions — my work should matter
- Live in a big city (NYC, SF, etc. )
Feel free to reach out @ or .