I was just talking to a friend who is like a brother to me on this, the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. We went through that day and every day after togerher and it built our bond as lifelong friends.
During our talk, I got to thinking, that in a confluence of circumstance, my life has found me smack in the middle of four major American historical crises.
Here they are:
1. In the 70s, I was selected by Boston’s Public School administration to be bussed across town to a “black school” to integrate in what they now say was a failed experiment to integrate the schools. I witnessed a few violent incidents, watched the strife on the nightly news and read about it daily in the papers, all while being exposed to racist discourse and diatribes. It was quite unsettling as a young person growing up in the middle of all of it.
2. I sold my first startup on June 1, 2000 and within a few months the NYC startup community was decimated by dotcom 1.0. I lost my opportunity in the ensuing financial meltdown. The company that acquired us shut down and I was laid off from my post-sale role.
3. On 9/11, I witnessed the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history. Less than a year later, Cablevision would layoff 5,000 and shut down, MetroTV, the local lifestyle channel I worked where I was a Senior Producer. My favorite job working in music television went poof, just like that.
4. In 2003, I went to work for Lehman Brothers where I was a streaming project manager. I was asked to livestream derivatives trainings between the world’s most prolific mathematicians and the company’s brokers. I held the PowerPoints explaining derivatives in my hands. We know how that all worked out.
I don’t know who put me in these places at these pivotal times in American history, but I was there and each and every one of these experiences changed the trajectory of my life. Some for the better and sone for the worse.
Being a living witness and participant to these four historical events, all that were incredibly disruptive, surely set in a trauma I’ll never fully understand but I just keep pushing forward to overcome these extremely disruptive events as best I can.
Investor | Advisor | Harvard MBA
8moCan’t wait to listen!