Grounded PeopleBuild Better Futures

I’ve spent most of my life trying to understand why people become who they become.

I don’t think it starts with motivation or willpower. I think it starts with the environments we spend our time in, and what those environments reward.

I grew up in Brooklyn in the ’90s. My mom worked in a factory. My dad was a chef and spent much of his time working in another state. Brooklyn wasn’t a particularly kind place to grow up, so like most kids, I adapted.

I found belonging in gangs and different communities. Looking back, I don’t think the people around me were bad people. Most of us were simply responding to the environment we were in.

That’s where I learned one of the most important lessons of my life: every environment has its own reward system. Some reward aggression because it creates safety. Some reward status because it creates belonging. Some reward money because it creates significance. Over time, people adapt to whatever an environment rewards.

After being rejected by all sixteen colleges I applied to, I ended up at BMCC in Tribeca. It was the first place where I felt safe and met people who believed they could create a different future for themselves.

Nobody taught me to think bigger. The environment did. I eventually transferred to NYU, where I studied Sustainable Urban Environments — I thought I was studying cities. What I was really studying was how environments shape human behavior. Later, I built seven restaurants, joined Meta to help build Instagram’s Promote feature, and eventually left to explore a different question. What actually helps people flourish?

Moving to the Bay Area changed me. I spent more time in nature, started therapy, discovered meditation, and found communities where people talked about psychology, philosophy, and purpose as naturally as startups and investing. It was the first time I’d been in an environment where working on yourself carried social status.

That’s when something clicked. I realized I wasn’t lacking discipline. I had simply been living in environments that rewarded a version of myself I no longer wanted to become. After leaving Meta, I worked alongside Andrew Yang, collaborated with the King of Bhutan, and traveled the world learning from entrepreneurs, artists, monks, and indigenous communities. Different places. Different cultures. The same pattern. Every environment rewards something. And over time, those rewards become culture.

When I returned to New York, I fell in love with the city’s ambition all over again. But I also noticed what was missing. We’ve built incredible places that reward success, productivity, and performance. But where are the places that reward who you are becoming instead of “What do you do?”

Where people understand that taking care of their nervous system isn’t just personal, it’s a responsibility to everyone around them. Where the world’s greatest thinkers, artists, philosophers, and builders gather not just to speak, but to genuinely connect.

That’s why I built Moonrise — to help create the kind of New York I want to live in. I believe culture is shaped by the environments we create. If that’s true, then creating better environments may be one of the most meaningful ways we can shape a better future.

Thank you for being here. I hope Moonrise becomes one of those places for you.