the full story

“We’re not sure the extent of the brain damage.”

I can only imagine how my mom felt hearing these words from the doctor shortly after the birth of her first son. 

But even a collapsed lung after a complicated birth wasn’t going to stop me. 

Though my dad will jokingly disagree to this day, I thankfully didn’t suffer any brain damage like they thought that warm summer morning on August 8th.

I was born facing adversity. And the following years of my life would prove to test me even more. But those same challenges that would also lead me to divine inspiration, delicious revelations, profound breakthroughs, and purposeful action.

15 years later my world was rocked and reality redefined during a summer I spent on a service trip in Kenya. 

It’s one thing to see pictures of absolute poverty and watch those sad commercials on TV, it’s another thing to experience the sights and smells of it. 

I accompanied Mama Jane and the other mamas and girls of the Pimbiniet village on their daily water walk: 2 miles each way to the dirty Masai Mara River where they would collect water down stream from the cattle defecating and people bathing and washing their clothes.

Meeting the girls who aren’t able to go to school because they have to walk for water all day – representative of the 2.1 BILLION humans that lack access to safe, clean drinking water shook me.

Putting faces to the alarming 4,500 people a day who die from preventable, water related diseases broke me.

I couldn’t comprehend it. Why do I get to have clean water at the turn of the tap and they don’t? Why do I get access to an education and they don’t? What did I do to deserve this?

The deeply moving range of emotions passed through awe, disbelief, confusion, anger, motivation and eventually reached its final stop at purpose.

It became clear why I was here. I knew that I had the responsibility to use what I was blessed with to help as many people as I possibly could in our world. And I was going to lead others to do the same. I had to, there was no other way. 

9 months later, The Nika Water Company was born and with it an insatiable thirst for change.

Led by the seasoned business vet in my father, our family used this eco-friendly water company as a vehicle for sustainable change by donating 100% of the profits to clean water projects around the globe.

Driving around in my car wrapped in a Nika Water decal, my high school years were spent hustling to build the business and fulfill this responsibility, this purpose.

On top of the countless farmer’s markets, street fairs, and water deliveries, my sister Nina and I focused on spreading our message to inspire others to become change leaders of their own – the quickest way to collective change.

Some highlights included giving a TEDx Talk, getting interviewed for a segment on CBS’s 60 minutes, traveling to Switzerland to speak with students at The American School In Switzerland, giving a keynote speech at The California Association of Student Leaders annual conference, leading workshops with the Associated Student Body of several San Diego high schools, and traveling to 8 countries to work on building water wells and schools, breathing life into these projects to life.

Over 5 years, we were were able to donate enough money to bring over 32,000 access to clean water for life.

Fascinated by the entrepreneurial process and how business could be used as a such a powerful force for good, I was getting ready to go to college and learn more and carry this mission forward.

Until I was derailed.

“Call the surgeon, we’ve got to get him into surgery right now. If we wait any longer, he might lose his leg.”

Hearing these words from the emergency room doctor sobered me up from the morphine, real quickly.

A few hours before hearing these words, I was playing in my high school football game and suffered an injury to my quad which resulted in a rare medical emergency called Compartment Syndrome. 

That’s a fancy way of saying that I was internally bleeding from the hit to my quad and it was preventing any blood flow from my hip to my toes. In a matter of hours, the muscles lose oxygen and die, resulting in amputation. 

Thankfully the doctors recognized it quickly and acted to solve the situation. 

I once again was faced with a situation where I didn’t know how to process such crazy emotions. 

This time I took to the pen and paper. In one sitting, I spilled out words in the form of a spoken-word poem which awakened a gift and passion of mine in writing.

I ended up being featured in the Scripps Hospital quarterly magazine which highlighted my patient story. I was flown out to the Scripps Hospital’s systemwide team meeting and received a standing ovation from over 800 doctors and medical professionals after delivering the Keynote speech and sharing my poem. I loved being on stage and sharing my story to inspire others and knew this would be a major part of my future.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the last of the medical challenges I would face in my coming adolescent years.

“He’s bleeding internally, we’re going to have to do a blood transfusion immediately.”

This is what you hear when a routine appendicitis procedure hits some complications.

This time I’m a freshman in college, 3,000 miles away from home in the small town of Oxford, Ohio.

I wasn’t able to finish my fall semester because of this, and was very close to transferring. Something told me to hold on and give it another shot.

I couldn’t be happier that I did. The fall of my junior year at Miami University I was accepted into a semester long work immersion program in San Francisco.

I transformed my mind and my body during that semester program. I was working alongside some of the most brilliant entrepreneurs and thought leaders at a $150mm venture backed health-tech start up, learning first hand what disruption and innovation in the health and wellness space really looked like.

I became captivated by psychology of personal development and decided to take 100% accountability for my life. 

I became a certified yoga instructor, and transformed my physical fitness and my overall well being. I grew a passion for pushing my physical and mental capabilities which lead me to competing in Ironman triathlons and climbing mountains which I still push myself with today.

When the chance to come on full time to take the company to market presented itself, I pounced. 

It lead to me to relocating to LA to open up our LA market.

But after another year, I realized that this wasn’t “it.” While super cool, very comfortable, and disruptive, I knew I had to be closer to making an impact to people’s lives.

But I didn’t know exactly what that looked like. 

So I did what any responsible young adult would do – I quit my promising and stable job, strapped on a backpack and bought a one way flight to Thailand.

I ended up spending 8 months traveling around the world – from the streets of Havana, Cuba to the jungles of Java, Indonesia, to the mountains of northern Thailand to Ha Long Bay of Vietnam, to the mega-cities of Japan. I published an e-book with some of my takeaways, reflections and photographs.

My time in Japan lead me to doing a teaching fellowship at an innovative boarding school that re-ignited my passion for helping people, and I became extremely enthralled by the opportunity to disrupt the education system. 

I retuned just in time to come back to walk with my class to graduate, since I managed to take some online classes throughout my escapades in SF, LA, and abroad.

Fall of 2017 with my diploma in one hand, experiences and purpose in the other, I became set on finding an opportunity to tie together my call to service of helping others with my unique talents, gifts, and skills.

Enter Sh*t You Don’t Learn in College. I came on as the first employee and COO this fast growing education and coaching company.

For the past two years, we’ve been shifting the paradigm of our broken system to lead people towards a more fulfilling, impactful, and purposeful life. I’m now a Certified Success Coach and a Business Coach for our award-winning transformational program, High Impact Coaching, where we help top coaches and experts build profitable and sustainable businesses in less than 90 days so they can make the impact they want.

I’m driven every day to inspire and empower the leaders out there even more impactful so we can together create radical change. 

I welcome whatever adversity I know is to come on the horizon. Because that is the process. 

It’s those moments of struggle where character is forged and real leaders are born. Where faith is tested to keep trusting. Trusting that with time, it’s will become clear how something that seemingly bad that happens “to you” really leads to something beautiful that happens “for you.”

Because only in the darkness of night can you see just how bright a candle’s light can shine. 

Those moments set the stage for the greatest triumphs. 

I’m waking up every day happy to be here, attacking the next 24 hours I’m grateful to receive. 

And I’m just getting started.