I was born and raised in Alamo, California in the east San Francisco Bay Area. For most of my life, I did a really good job of making things harder on myself than they needed to be. I got to learn that lesson time and time again, reiterated from my parents, teachers, friends, and mentors. All throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school, I found myself in increasing trouble and conflict, unsure about why things were so difficult and why I felt powerless in doing something about it. My solution was rebelling and checking out, smoking weed and partying with my friends.

When I was 16, my parents were at their wit’s end and sent me to an all-boys boarding school near Charlottesville, Virginia to finish out high school. That was a tough decision on their part but ultimately a good one, and it helped move my life in a different direction. When I was 19 and a freshman at CU Boulder, that rebellious, defiant persona began to fall apart. Something in me cracked open, and I began to experience a visceral fear, anxiety, and uncertainty that had been hiding beneath that anger all along. It was a really uncomfortable and disorienting time, but it ultimately led me to asking some genuine questions for the first time in my life about who I am, why I’m here, and what this is all about.

I spent my 20s traversing the different paths that those questions led me down, from spirituality and ceremony to art and self-expression, working a variety of jobs to support myself along the way. In 2021, one of my mentors connected me with a family who wanted to put their son through a rite of passage program. It was the perfect opportunity for me to step into the role of mentor and starting working one-on-one with teens. Since then, my passion and vision for this work has grown as I witness its positive impacts and am affirmed by parents who emphasize the necessity for their boys to be supported in the journey to manhood. I am humbled and grateful to be able to use some of my own experiences and learning to help guide this next generation of adolescents towards lives of purpose, meaning, beauty, and connection.

Experience
Since 2014, I’ve had opportunities to work with my own mentors, teachers, and elders to learn, participate, and guide in various contexts that have prepared me to engage in this work with teens. These have included: rites of passages for teenage boys through Men’s Leadership Alliance; men’s circles, retreats, and workshops; Holistic Leadership Training Program through Men’s Leadership Alliance; family systems/lineage work and psycho-spiritual self-study through Prem Baba and Caminho Do Corocao; Authentic Relating International Level 1 training program; and traditional Lakota sweat lodge and vision quest ceremonies.