The Tower
In October 1984, I enlisted in the Navy straight out of high school in a small town in Southeast Georgia. After serving aboard the USS Francis Hammond (FF-1067) in Yokosuka,…
Five Qualities of the Diaspora
There were two milestones I needed to achieve in order to complete my MBA — a new venture capstone project and a study abroad trip to compare and contrast cultures,…
Pedicabber
The following weekend, Zach and I were in my Subaru Baja, driving at full speed on the N.J. Turnpike to NYC. “Why are we driving up to the Big…
RUNIN — the Theme
RUNIN is not exactly about the joys (or pain) of running. It’s not about running out of food either. Did you realize that RUNIN is actually a back acronym? Huh?…
Vapiano
I applied for the GWU Business Plan competition in 2011 and 12 with high hopes that perseverance would pay off. After all, I had a couple of notches such as…
Apollo’s Flight
DC is a town full of festivals, and there’s no better time to celebrate festivals than in the summer. I had the perfect companion to attend my annual Folklife Festival,…
Best of DC
We applied for the GWU Business Plan competition three times, hoping that indeed the third and last time was the charm. Unfortunately, all the leprechauns in the world could not…
Patriots’ Day
We were conducting routine flight operations off the balmy coast of Southern California — in the distance stood the coastal mountain range of Santa Ana where the blistery, dry winds blew from…
A Site is Born
During the spring of 2010, I enrolled in Professor Richard Donnelly’s New Ventures Class at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Business. Students had to create ideas for a…
The Tower
I enrolled in the Executive MBA program, and before the semester started, our cohort of 20 eager students embarked on a five-day retreat at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs,…