About

Somebody

I am somebody and nobody. I am everything and nothing. I am whoever others need me to be to become the best version of themselves and propel the human race forward—a Leadership Coach, Network Builder, Public Speaker, Business Consultant, Market Analyst, Performance Accelerator, Polymath, Changemaker, Author, and Friend.

Polymath

Imagine an 18-year-old from a lower-class background, with dreams far beyond his reach. He lives in a remote city, lacking the connections or context to pursue his destiny. The only things to his advantage are his intellectual abilities and natural talent in oratory. To carve a path to prominence, he ventures to a bustling metropolis to commit his life to learning. The center of his world gets bigger—big enough that it extends to shape other worlds. This young man is Cicero, who, despite his modest beginnings, rose to become one of history’s greatest statesmen and the highest elected official in the Roman Republic.

My story mirrors Cicero’s in many ways. Like him, I was a teenager from a lower-class background with an unsettled heart, expecting more of myself, so heartsick for greatness. All that drive to chase the contexts, conditions, and causes of flourishing directed me to pursue a PhD at Cambridge University in the year of our Lord when the university was rated number one globally. I arrived thinking, “I know so much.” I left thinking, “I know so much that I know enough to know that what I know is nothing.” This epiphany forged my identity as a polymath. Now, I’m integrating wisdom from different fields to empower the greatness of others. Just like Cicero, I believe that anyone can achieve greatness, no matter where they start.

Coach 

As a Leadership and Performance Coach certified by ACT Brown University School of Professional Studies, I believe in the transformative power of coaching to unlock the full potential of individuals and teams. My approach is characterized by a deep respect for the inherent transcendence and infinite otherness of every human being. Regardless of status, gender, background, appearance, education, or job, you exist outside and beyond standard categories. By nature of being human, you hold infinite potential for greatness and an equal capacity for brokenness. That’s what transcendence means—you possess a boundless ability to hurt or to heal, to fail or to succeed, to break or to mend what is broken.

When I encounter your face, your transcendence invites me to enter into an ethical engagement. I see you not through the lens of my interests, biases, or labels, but as a face that tells a story—a face that holds a universe of possibilities. This gives us the chance to connect and co-create an empowering coach-client relationship. Our relationship is built on my commitment to your well-being. I strive to create a safe and supportive space where you can explore your challenges, set goals, and develop the leadership strategies necessary to achieve your full personal and professional potential.

Speaker 

I see the universe as beautifully interconnected. Science is not the truth without art, and art is not the truth without science. Every subject and discipline under the sun is part of a larger family on a journey of uncovering and living the truth together. As a polymath, I bring these threads together, offering my audiences a portrait of beauty in the search for truth, and instilling in them a sense of belonging on this shared journey.

This is why my speaking portfolio is a bit like a buffet—you never know what you'll get, but there's something for everyone. I’ve tackled brainy topics like interfaith dialogue and pluralism at Princeton and Neo-Platonism at All Souls College, Oxford (yes, it’s as fancy as it sounds), and then flipped the script by equipping Harvard students with linguistic tools to grow in self-awareness and relational intelligence.

But if you think that’s wide-ranging, how about the time I gave a speech about freedom to a group of incarcerated men at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as “America's Bloodiest Prison”? Or when I found myself in Málaga, Spain, at an international conference discussing sex trafficking? From ivory towers to prison walls, I’ve pretty much covered it all!

For all my speeches, I carefully choose every word because they hold the power to bring life to everything. Words can see and hear, tremble and clap, dance and bow in reverence. They have the power to give and take, and I am deliberate about using them to give hope and take away fear. Stepping onto the stage means choosing to speak not to, but for my audience. I am their voice, saying back to them the message: “I can love and live better.”

Beniamin 

I am a novus homo, a new human, forged out of nothing. This idiom, used in Roman society to describe the first in a family to achieve significance, resonates with me. My Hebrew name, Beniamin, meaning "son of the right hand," carries the weight of this identity. It envisions a consul at the right hand of the king. Sometimes I wonder why parents do this to their children, marking us with great names. It’s a way to remind us that we’re not alone. We are accountable to a greatness before and beyond ourselves. But how in the world could someone like me live up to this name?

My paternal grandfather worked on a pig farm, while my maternal grandfather was a shepherd in the hills of Transylvania. And my father? Despite enduring the hardships of a Communist labor camp, he instilled in me the belief that I could turn adversity into ambition and iron into gold. He believed that the extraordinary is simply the ordinary with a better heart.

Do not underestimate character. It testifies when invited to philanthropic boards or when considered for awards. It has your back as you work your way up to make contributions to institutions like Brown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. It can even power you to scale the peaks of academia, business, and philanthropy, earning you recognition by the U.S. government as a person of "national interest and extraordinary ability." But character also has intangible depths and values that science can’t quantify. There are no assurances of glory except that wherever you go, you see reality with a different set of eyes. Character gives you accolades not for the world to see and serve you, but for you to better see and serve the world. It’s the bizarre inner voice telling you to consider others as better than yourself, if for no other reason than to attempt to love them as you love yourself. 

I have come to believe that being a novus homo is about turning away from yourself, always projecting outward, and hoping that when you do become a consul to leaders who wield influence at the highest levels of society, somehow it rubs off in such a way that selflessness for the greater good wins over personal gain. We can all rise from nothing as a novus homo by seeing and bringing out the best in others. It’s our destiny as humans to immerse ourselves in the unknown and make unclaimed potential known. We owe it to ourselves and our world to create something sublime.