I spent the majority of my life thinking something was wrong with me.

Why wasn’t I happy? What did I need to do to be happy? As a refugee coming from the Soviet Union, my family taught me that I had to achieve and fit in in order to have a good life. This made sense at the time, as it is what my family needed to survive after such a massive cultural shift and coming from a place of scarcity.

Excelling at school, getting straight A’s, landing a swanky job in tech making a too-comfortable salary. I excelled as a coder, and worked my way to engineering manager working for the FBI, small tech startups, and large companies such as Amazon and Coinbase. Still, I didn’t feel whole. I was complacent, but not happy. I was still always searching for that other thing. Eventually, I reached a breaking point of burnout.

This was a wakeup call.

I went to therapy where I dug into my deeper motivations and tapped into what my real values were. I realized how much of what I thought was just stories I told myself, ones that didn’t truly serve me or make me happy.

I opened newfound pockets of empathy that gave me a profound appreciation for life, for my fellow beings, and for our planet. I discovered yoga which stimulated a paradigm shifting definition of physical and psycho-emotional wellness. I reaped the many benefits of having a daily meditation practice.

Then the whole world opened up.

Through diligent effort, I broke through my limiting beliefs and found a new sense of intrinsic motivation and self-love. I became happy with myself and my body in a way I never thought possible. I began to release my judgments of myself and others.

I discovered my purpose.

To devote my life to helping others awaken to the same world of infinite possibilities.

To help them see that they are perfect just the way they are by de-programming all the negative messaging we’ve inherited and internalized. 

To help others to love themselves, love each other, and be the best versions of themselves.

To help build a bright and shining future for ourselves, our communities, and all the future inhabitants of our Earth.