Manifesting ideas and building communities
Where an idea begins, and the community that grows around it.
Selected work below.
The Assemblage
In 2016, I joined the founding team behind a Manhattan co-working and co-living community built around biophilic design and shared purpose. I wrote the founding manifesto and launch materials with the founder, and co-authored The Future of Capital report with PSFK, mapping how social impact was becoming a legitimate business thesis. The community grew to hundreds of members across three Manhattan buildings, including professionals, wellness practitioners, and change-makers.
Fundamental
In 2016, roughly a quarter of Americans were living with a mental health condition, at an estimated cost of $400B a year in lost earnings and healthcare. Research into psychedelic-assisted therapy sat almost entirely outside traditional funding channels, due to Schedule I drug classification and institutional stigma.
Fundamental used donation-based crowdfunding to direct support toward studies already underway at NYU (psilocybin for alcoholism) and MAPS (MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, which later earned FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation). One study in the portfolio, led by NYU's Dr. Stephen Ross, found that a single dose of psilocybin paired with therapy reduced depression and anxiety in cancer patients for six months following treatment.
I built and directed the initiative from concept to a May 2017 launch, including brand, ethos, pitch materials, and a governance structure through a CAF America donor-advised fund. Raised $150K+ from a community of 500+ donors, most with no prior connection to psychedelic science. The work centered on translating stigmatized, Schedule I research into a narrative a first-time donor could trust, years before the subject entered the cultural mainstream.