For as long as I can remember, I have had a deep yearning to understand the inner workings of the world around me. As it a child, it was my toys; I would take them apart and put them back together, albeit, sometimes unsuccessfully. As an adolescent, I joined my high school engineering program and turned my attention towards understanding the machines that made modern day life possible. When it came time to go off to college, I figured the natural progression was to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, like my older brother had done before me. However, once I was there, I encountered difficultly staying engaged in all of the prerequisite courses. This eventually led me to do some soul searching as I was completely disengaged as a student and was questioning whether I should stay in college. I was fortunate enough to take part in a study abroad program in Paris, France during the summer of 2015. That trip provided me with a window into the lifestyle I wanted to live and solidified my decision to make the leap and drop out of college. Five years later, I can confidently say that was the best decision I've ever made.

    In the years since that big decision, I have harnessed my yearning to understand how things work and applied it to the realm of business. I was fortunate to join my family's real estate and property management firm in January 2016. While I had previously worked summer jobs in high school on the maintenance crew cleaning toilets and painting apartments, I had no idea how much work went into successfully managing a property. In short, I went to the school of hard knocks as I was thrown into the middle of complex, real world problems that needed to be solved NOW. I quickly learned that successfully operating real estate assets is like a constant game of wack a mole. There is always something else to be done, another problem to be solved, and another project to be tackled. This intense learning experience, along with rigorous self-education, led me to an evolution in thinking about how businesses should operate. I realized that the recurring dumpster fire of problems can tamed by implementing systems that allow staff to operate efficiently and effectively without interference from upper-level management. This newfound thinking led me and our management team to implement major changes within the family business. We added sophisticated software programs along with improved operational and control systems that made a tremendous difference in the quality of our service and the efficiency of the business. This experience exposed me to the challenges of growing a business and provided me with valuable knowledge that can be applied to any business venture I pursue in the future.  In addition to the business development skills I acquired, I have been fortunate enough to work on many projects that have helped me cultivate a wide range of skills. These projects include: ground up construction & property development, value add repositions, large CapEx projects, and many interior apartment renovations, to name a few.