background

I was born and raised in San Francisco and still consider it one of the greatest cities on the planet. As a kid, I was a nerd at heart, hustler by day, and always the quarterback in the schoolyard. I ​enjoyed building and overclocking computers to play the latest FPS titles, and by the age of 12, I had a 150 computer botnet and had soldered mod chips in all of my friends Playstations. I funded my computer projects by selling mixtapes and games to my schoolmates. By fortune of proximity, I attended a Japanese bilingual public elementary school and an overwhelmingly Latino middle school in the Mission--experiences that influenced a deep love for language and world cultures. Although I am by no means a polyglot, I speak fluent Spanish and Portuguese. I love a good cuento. 

After freshman year of high school, I recognized that public school was leading my peers and I on a march to mediocrity. The guy I sold 2Pac mixtapes to ended up shooting and killing my dear friend George Hortado, who was the Latino glass-eyed Biggie Smalls. Losing friends to street violence and incarceration prompting me to make a dramatic shift in my life. I decided to take the red pill and walked out of my high school my sophomore year after listening to my classmates struggle to read sentences in their textbooks. The school police officer arrested me on my neighborhood stroll. I remember the words of the Principal as the officer removed the handcuffs: "Do you want to end up like that toothless drug addict on the corner? That's what's going to happen if you leave here." I politely told him I would never be coming back. And I didn't.

I worked just about every minimum wage job you can imagine, from retail to food service, house cleaning to construction. After a year of working 2-3 jobs at a time, while buying, repairing and selling cars for extra change, I began taking classes at City College of San Francisco. I vividly recall opening up the college course guide and knowing not a damn thing about what any of the courses were about. After some experimentation, I gravitated towards economics, philosophy and political science, which provided me with new lenses to understand the world around me in an entirely different way. I hunkered down, made the Dean's List and eventually transferred to U.C. Berkeley to study Political Economy. 

After a few years of social venture experience, a stint in the corporate world as a data analyst, and some time in Brazil, in 2015 I opted for law school to hone my pen and sharpen my mind. At Georgetown University Law Center, I focused my coursework on corporate and privacy law, fueled by a passion for entrepreneurship and technology. I also interned primarily in crossborder structured finance, spending the better part of 2017 at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now the Development Finance Corporation), an investment arm of the United States. Hearing the stories of the amazing ventures OPIC funded over the years (the first company to harvest açaí, to powerplants that keep the lights on in Africa), the entrepreneurial fire within me was reignited. The knowledge I gained drafting $100M+ finance agreements was invaluable, but I wanted to create value and transform the future. I haven't looked back since! 

Timeline

2019
Passionate about maximizing mental and physical performance, I founded a recovery device company, Pre-Post Power along with longtime friend & neurosurgeon , Anil Mahavadi. Our initial vision was to provide a brick-and mortar one stop shop for top-notch recovery methods, but after a deep dive into the ROI of a storefront model, we pivoted to focus on the physical therapy device market.

By August, due to overwhelming requests from friends seeking legal advice and my need to pay down law school loans, I launched my law firm. 

2018
While studying for the NY bar exam, I co-founded a property management company in Medellin, Colombia. We contracted with luxury penthouse and large home owners and rented the properties on Airbnb. Thankfully, amidst all of the wheeling and dealing, I passed the NY bar exam. At the year's end, I exited the venture, selling my shares to my co-founder for a sizeable return.

2017
I worked at Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now the development finance corporation), where I drafted contracts for project finance, structured finance, and equity fund investments. 

I also worked at Citibank as a secondee from the top Colombian law firm, Brigard & Urrutia, drafting finance agreements for toll road projects. Here is a privacy video I narrated for the firm.

2016
For my 1L summer, I worked as a Legal Intern for the United States Agency for International Development.

During my 2L year, I joined the Georgetown Technology Review. I wrote on self driving car liability and robo advisors.

2015
Before making the leap to law school, I took on one more project.  Passionate about showing people San Francisco through the eyes of a local, I scaled Dylan's Tours 3X and achieved #1 ratings on Trip Advisor. I continue to consult for Dylan's Tours.

If you're curious why they let me into Georgetown, this is the video I submitted with my application.

2013
After learning a great deal about negotiating with Brazilian banks and telecoms, I headed back to the US in search of a new challenge, and picked up a Big Data job for Avon in New York.

2012
ComuniSol got snuffed out by the Dominican government's aversion to new entrants in the power sector. Thereafter, I headed to Brazil and consulted for a mobile banking company serving the unbanked poor in the northeastern region of Brazil. 

2011
Upon graduating from U.C. Berkeley, I founded ComuniSol, a crowdfunded solar company in the Dominican Republic.

In addition, I organized a group that combines experienced counselors, community leaders, and proactive individuals within the Oakland Housing Authority to improve relationships between low-income fathers and their children.

2010
I interned for Golden Mean Capital, a venture capital firm in San Francisco. I worked in investors relations, cold-calling investors to raise $3M in equity. I also worked on the financial model and investor presentations for an agroprocessing venture in Ghana, Africa.

Separately, I coordinated an aid convoy to Haiti. Alongside two Dominican agronomists, I was able to deliver immediate relief and professional services after the earthquake.