About Me

WHAT’S UP!  I’m Smiley. 

I grew up in Cambridge/Massachusetts, and since have lived in Middletown/Connecticut, Havana/Cuba, Brooklyn/New York, Buenos Aires/Argentina, Anderson/Indiana, and Mt. Pleasant/Washington DC.  I now live in San Francisco/California, and it’s a dream come true.

I care about:

-Spreading positivity & smiles
-Curating transformative experiences where people can reach their full potential
-Inspiring social change & increasing opportunities for game-changing entrepreneurs 
-Ending injustice & inequality
-Quoting Seinfeld episodes like it’s my job.  (What do you have in the briefcase?  Crackers.)
-Dance parties

Bio:

I am a writer and lover of life.  I inspire social change through storytelling and giving pep talks.  I am currently writing The Quarter-Life Breakthrough, a handbook for 20-somethings (and 30-somethings).  I am academy director of The Bold Academy, a life accelerator program in San Francisco that empowers emerging leaders to reach their full potential.  I am a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow, and a mentor for entrepreneurs at StartingBloc and the Dell Summer Social Innovation Lab.

I have written speeches that have been delivered before audiences at the White House, United Nations, State Department, USAID, and Peace Corps.  My writing has been published in The Huffington Post, Forbes, The Hairpin, Dowser, revolution.is, The White House Blog, Positively Positive, Frontlines, StartSomeGood, New Empire Builders, Popstart Magazine, the Wesleyan Journal of History, and the Cambridge Chronicle.  I edited the book The Connection Agency, by Sarah Bishop, which is for sale on Amazon.  

While working at the Peace Corps, I represented the agency on President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative.  Prior, I worked for the Obama-Biden Transition Project, Obama for America, the Buenos Aires International Film Festival, the Provincetown Film Festival, and the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.  

I have also worked on numerous independent and studio films, including producing 3rd of July and directing this viral YouTube video.  I have a BA in film studies from Wesleyan University and I studied at the University of Havana in Cuba.  The best job I’ve ever had was ice-cream scooper at Herrell’s Ice Cream in Harvard Square, which sadly closed in 2010.

I don’t pretend to have the right answers.  But I’m starting to ask the right questions.  (So we’ve got that going for us.  Which is nice.)

*Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this blog are solely my own. *