THE WISDOM CV
People, moments, and unexpected encounters that shaped me.
EXPERIENCES
2005, Meditation Facilitator
RJ Donovan Maximum Security State Prison, San Diego
While facilitating meditation at RJ Donovan Maximum Security State Prison in San Diego, I saw how much prisons prioritize punishment, containment, and control over rehabilitation. We miss out on so much human potential when we fail to create real paths toward rehabilitation and growth.
2009–2013, Pediatric Oncology Camp Counselor
Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times
At Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children living with cancer and their siblings, I spent magical summers filled with songs, campfires, and hikes alongside some of the most amazing kids on this planet.
2014, Nurse
Bujumbura, Burundi
Bujumbura, Burundi, is hard to rival: its landscape, its people, its spirit. My time there was a profound lesson in hope, healing, and the power of belief.
2015, Nurse
Psychiatric Emergency Room, Mount Sinai, NYC
Working in the psychiatric emergency room at Mount Sinai brought me face-to-face with the intense suffering of people in mental health crises. It sparked a lifelong curiosity and a deep commitment to building help that is actually helpful and pursuing moonshot solutions in mental health care.
2025–2026, Guest
Shipibo Maestras and Maestros, Peruvian Amazon
Across two visits, I spent three weeks as a guest of Shipibo healers in the Peruvian Amazon. They taught me that the healer is part of the medicine, and that whatever remains unhealed within us enters the care we give. Their work deepened my commitment to building healthcare systems where caring for the healer is not an afterthought, and where love is the design rather than the workaround.
TEACHERS
2005, Dominican Priest
Fr. John Paul Forté, O.P.
Fr. John Paul Forté, O.P., taught me to think of “sin” as “missing the mark.” The real sin in life, he said, is not embracing our true selves: missing the mark of who we are.
2007, Black Panther Elders and UAACC Founders
Geronimo Ji-Jaga and Pete O'Neal, UAACC, Tanzania
During a summer in Tanzania, I casually bummed a ride and unexpectedly met Geronimo Ji-Jaga and Pete O’Neal, former Black Panther leaders. That chance encounter became a summer of mentorship and friendship, threaded with stories of joy, laughter, and struggle against injustice. It has stayed with me ever since.
2009, president and CEO of Synthorx, Inc ($THOR)
Laura Shawver, Ph.D., CEO
Laura’s leadership at Synthorx culminated in Sanofi’s $2.5 billion acquisition of the company. She taught me that effective leadership includes both the big picture and the practical details, right down to fixing a company’s broken toilet.
2013, Psychiatric Patient at Mount Sinai
B
B’s passing brought a critical truth into focus: he wasn’t the one who was sick or broken. The medical-industrial complex was. He died fighting ours.
2019, Political Organizer
Crystal Rogers
Crystal’s unwavering dedication lit a fiery hope in me: the conviction that, with relentless persistence, we can move even the most stubborn systems toward something more equitable and more human.
Alien Superstar
Beyoncé
Light On
Maggie Rogers
A Change Is Gonna Come
Fugees
Relentless Health Value
Stacey Richter
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
Say More with Dr? Sheila
Amy Poehler
Emergent Strategy
adrienne maree brown
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell
What the Living Do
Marie Howe