I was ten-years-old and stuck in a room with no space. I rushed to the hall closet, got the drawing pad, and went to work. My mind flooded with ideas, a phenomenon that I called “designer’s high,” which would, overtime, become ordinary in my everyday life. I settled on a somewhat unorthodox, yet space efficient design: I would build a platform that hangs five feet above the floor (my approximate height at the time) and would suspend my bed,...

Throughout my life, I’ve become interested in countless theories: Quantum Theory, Theory of Relativity, Intrinsic Value Theory. Many don’t stick with you throughout the years, but there are some that do, like the Jelly Bean Theory. I walked into my internship at the Union Bank of Switzerland and the first thing my boss asked me was, "Do you like Jelly Beans?" I didn't respond quickly enough, so he answered for me. First off, he didn't even care if...

“Warren Buffett is fond of saying that any player unaware of the fool in the market probably is the fool in the market.” This quote from Michael Lewis in his book “Liar’s Poker” was branded in my brain at the age of thirteen. I didn’t want to be the fool in the room; nobody did. So what’s the solution? Know the game. The game we call the economy. Once you know the game, you can change the...

Art is a metaphor for control. Every choice that an artist makes is entirely and undoubtedly the artist’s. However, artists are also influenced by the choices of the people around them. One of Van Gogh’s greatest influences was painter Paul Gauguin. Gauguin’s choices of color and angles set bases for some of Van Gogh’s greatest pieces. Much like how artists are influenced by the choices of other artists, people in the modern world are influenced by...

When I reached forty-eight inches in height, I was finally able to reach the food samples at Costco. At this height, I also began to witness consumerism; people with seemingly endless desires, booking their next vacations and buying two-gallon jugs of massage oil. I remember thinking, "Nobody needs that much massage oil", and then wondering, "So, why buy it?" These shopping trips triggered endless questions of economic movement.  Who controls the economy? Who sets the prices? How in the world...

My life began in Philadelphia, where I lived for six years. The city was a very exciting, yet unstable environment for a kid of my age. My days in the city found a bearable medium of excitement and instability that would make any six-year-old thrive. At the end of my sixth year my family moved and my life flipped. Naples is a quaint town, in fact, it is the exact opposite of my life in the Philadelphia. Many parts were...