After 2016 Election
- Serving as Interim Director of a New York criminal justice nonprofit
- Co-Founding organization researching and promoting ways to use design to nudge people to be better to each other online
- Researching and advocating for a way to bridge political divides and improve local policies through Crowdsourced Ballot Initiatives
- Helping a Brooklyn-Based Resistance group share information and make use of new digital tools
Post Grad School
- Independently researched overlaps between technology and civil society, some of which is now published on TechCrunch
- Building out website content for things like Neil deGrasse Tyson’s podcast, StarTalk
- Helping organizations like this nonprofit that studies how media can change hearts and minds tell their story
- Trained New York Times reporters and editors to create livestream videos on Facebook
- Helped charitable foundation judge media innovation prototypes for grant competition
Grad School
- Earned Master in Public Administration degree from Columbia. Kind of like an MBA, only for people who care more about making the world a better place than maximizing profits
- Managed capstone team of eight consulting with Accenture, studying digital government programs in Brazil, India, Mexico, and USA
- Ran IT for a South African impact investor
- Gave TEDx talk on Crowdsourced Legislation
- Used human-centered design principles to co-found social enterprise bringing hand sanitation to Indian food carts, winning grant money for pilot testing
- Won several thousand dollars in grant money for student-led open data initiative
- Advised Haitian community center on setup of new computer lab using donated laptops
- Taught did IT/admin work for new nonprofit high school in Ethiopia to serve gifted students who couldn’t otherwise access full education
Not-So-Starving Artist Period
- Resident Artist with NYC-based Shakespeare theater
- Acted in several Off-Off-Broadway stage productions (yes, that is a thing)
- Toured with dramatic improv ensemble
- Writer for Backstage’s “Unscripted” blog
- Picked up two IMDB credits, one where you can’t see me, one where you can’t hear me, both a blast
- Tutored a few subjects* to pay the bills
- Designed a couple websites
*Calculus, Trigonometry, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, Spanish, US and World history, SSAT, ISEE, SAT, ACT, and GRE prep, among others, students from middle school to graduate level
Traveling the World
- Used childhood savings to backpack across all seven continents
- Led small volunteer emergency flood relief effort in Latin America
- Helped coastal nature sanctuary cleanup in Australia
- Edited and revised grant applications in East Africa
- Roasted marshmallows over hot lava in Guatemala, ziplined off the Great Wall of China, snuck Malawian dignitaries into Zambian tribal ceremony and other assorted hijinks
- Blogged about said hijinks as I went, posts republished on wide variety of sites
College
- Double-majored in Political Science and International Studies at the University of Chicago
- Helped organize the world’s largest scavenger hunt, later profiled by The New Yorker
- Studied abroad in India, starred in NBC web series about experience (along with 9 other students studying in other countries)
- Acted in a dozen-plus student theater productions
- Worked summers fundraising for an environmental nonprofit, at a theater, and at a zoo
Starting out
- Grew up 90% in Seattle, 10% on a cattle ranch in eastern Washington state
- Varsity benchwarmer on high school basketball team
- Started saving up coins at young age to travel the world, continuing through lawn mowing and first summer jobs as ranch hand, sandwich maker, and at an ice cream/coffee/candy store called Bubbles
- Spent a lot of time hiking and biking
- Played a lot of video games
- Read a lot of mystery and fantasy novels
- Ate a lot of ice cream