As selfish as this seems, this blog is all about my journey. However, The life I have created revolves around facilitating the process of helping others succeed. Therefore much of my accomplishments is the result of successfully building projects by connecting people around ideas as a means to serve humanity.
I’m passionate about Community, Relationships, Giving back and Bringing change.
I founded OCHackerz 4 Years ago, a community of 650+ of the most revolutionary entrepreneurial designers, coders and engineers through organizing 94 cutting edge community events, Meetups, Conferences, Workshops, Talks, Fireside Chats, 2 x OCMiniMakerFaires and 14 x Hackathons. Here's a link to our recent event http://youtu.be/vPxqIOy0vlw
I used my Marketing, PR and Journalism skills to Hack my way into the front page of the OCRegister local newspaper promoting 5 local technology businesses, 6 new startups and developing sponsorships / partnerships with SpaceX, GA, Eureka Building, Inventables +more.
I'm chair of IEEE Center for MultiDisciplinary Innovation.
I was invited to give a presentation on the Hacker and Maker Movement to the IEEE Consultants network.
I volunteered to teach Lego robotics and Mobile App Design for kids in low income families, was invited to give a talk on careers and introduced the concept of hack schooling to teachers and kids at The Boys and Girls Club in Tustin.
I just started a partnership program between OCHackerz and Engineering for Kids where we have run 3 classes building: Paper Rockets, Electric Magnets and Bridges.
I won 1st place at HackForLA for developing a geolocation based mobile app connecting non profits to volunteers.
I Mentor student startups at the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship at Chapman University and connect them with industry specific professionals at OCHackerz.
I run the Socal Pool Players Meetup along with LA Startup Weekend,
I was selected to participate in Startupbus SF, 1 of 7 buses that travelled 3,000km from SF to Austin, TX. We built the startup www.trade-off.co on the bus journey.
When I started OCHackerz, I had no budget, I donated all my income into exploring this passion for giving back and making my mark.
I anticipated success much sooner and unfortunately -$20k later still trying to find a way of keeping it free and sustaining it.
Lessons learned:
' Sometimes, Those who have less, give more '
' We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. '