AGE: 36
TITLE: Technology Support Consultant
COMPANY NAME: Digital Immigration, LLC
COMPANY’S LOCATION: Hartford
RESIDENCE: Hartford
What do you do? I have worked with local historians to construct podcasts exposing the legacy of Hartford’s rich historic narratives, operate the largest single source of Hartford events, SocialHartford.com, and continue to work tirelessly to foster a new entrepreneurial community through HYPE, a startup cafe group on meetup.com, and the co-founding of Downtown Yoga’s new entrepreneurial co-working space, CityZen.
What do you want to be doing in 10 years? Running a world-class organization that creates profound positive impact in society and inspires individuals to leverage their unique skills to leave the world a little better than when they came into it. Cheesy? Sure. Possible? Absolutely.
What is your biggest strength? I am obsessed with big ideas and actively seek out patterns in the data that most overlook. As such I can predict large trends and create solutions for big problems far earlier than most. This involves spending a large amount of time outside my comfort zone, connecting with as many different people and markets and ideas as possible.
Where do you go for new ideas? I do not believe good ideas are “found,” but rather flow through those who allow themselves to be in the right state of mind; those who regularly expose themselves to new people, ideas and environments. Every one of us needs to find those elements that allow us to rediscover this energy. For myself, I find myself most open to this energy flow in the mountains, skiing.
What is the best advice you received? Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
What service or charitable cause has your attention? I do not believe in charity for the sake of merely sustaining current inequalities. A good part of my volunteer time in the last 3 years has been working with others in co-creating an entrepreneurial community in Hartford from the ground up. This is critical, for more than just business development, but as a means of offering alternative life paths for many of Hartford’s most disenfranchised youth. Entrepreneurship is the art of creation and renewal; something our region/state needs more of to compete in this new, global world.
