My Story

2005: I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to an American father from the Bay Area and Spanish mother from Madrid. I don't really know how I ended up in Ohio and don't remember anything, but yes, I'm an Ohioan.

2006: I moved to Austin, Texas to live there for four years. I recalled Austin to be one of the coolest cities I've ever been to. The food, music, nonchalant nature of the people there made it a wonderful place to grow up in.

2010: I moved to Brussels, Belgium for a year, where I got exposure to the European culture truly for the first time. I was still developing as a child but I recall enjoying biking in the wonderous forests of Brussels, liking a girl for the first time subconsciously, and going to the markets on Sundays to eat an unimaginably good smelling waffle.

2011: I moved to Mallorca, Spain, an island in the Mediterranean. My home for the next eleven years. I always say as I live in Boston now that I was spoiled very early on because of the paradise-like nature of the city. My goodness was the weather wonderful and I was fortunate enough – though I didn't know it at the time – to live 10 minutes walking from the school and 5 minutes from the beach. It was amazing. I am grateful for the location as well as the school that I went to.

Shortly after arriving to Mallorca, at age seven my parents divorced and was raised by an incredible single mother since. She instilled in my sister and me the importance of having a global mindset, the importance of education, thinking independently from others, and preserving a healthy body and mind. I was blessed to have grown up in a house where our shelf was filled with Tony Robbins or Ryan Holiday books, listening in the background to podcasts from Tim Ferris or Peter Diamandis, and learning the organic food isle since I remember knowing what a supermarket is.

The school that I went to was Agora Portals International School. It was the embodiment of a good k-12 experience, for the most part. I began playing the saxophone at the age of six, ultimately playing for seven years and playing in band concerts, leading our group of saxophonists, playing solo concerts as well as becoming the youngest musician in the state band. That taught me early on leadership, discipline, creativity, and intuition.

I fell in love with soccer and basketball, basketball more so. That sport was everything to me. I became a die hard Warriors fan. From ages seven to nine, I practiced and played games in both sports at the same time all year round, which developed my work ethic, adaptability, and athleticism. At ten years old I went all-in into basketball, where I played point guard. I recall seeming to be very good but not elite. Until now I had only played in my school's team but I decided to leave the comfort zone and play on two different teams ultimately playing in La Salle at age eleven, which was deemed to be the best basketball club in the island. I was driven by emotion back then, so I was naturally fearful of going because of how different, imposing, and high-stakes it was going to be, but thanks to my mother which pretty much forced me to go, I played in an extraordinary club and met some great people there.

2018: After my seventh year at the school, we decided it was time for change mainly because of the quality of the teachers of our previous school. We enrolled in Laurel Springs School and began taking online classes in what was the equivalent of an American High School. Throughout my period at Agora, I was best described as an energetic, emotional, but calm kid who was able to get around any group of people, girls and boys, the sports kids and the nerdy kids. When I left, it was tough for them and me, but I knew it was the right choice.

Doing school remotely was an absolute foreign concept to many. Many told us: "How would you develop socially?", "Won't they become too lonely?". In part, they were right, but on another, we knew how much we could develop via this experience. I did classes at home, went to basketball practice, and had great gatherings with my previous schools' friends. Undertaking this experience taught me the importance of self-study, self-organization, discipline, and independent thinking.

2019: I left my team at La Salle because of my disappointment with the coaches and how basketball was conducted. I got so disappointed that for the time being I decided to leave basketball and sports altogether. This period of 0 exercise other than a random Spartan Race I did was eight months. That period was bad – I was very into Fortnite (surprise) and eating badly despite the good influence around me. I had never-ending battles to be more with my PS4 and didn't go outside much. Combined with doing classes online, my body and my mind shattered and had no real purpose, stability, or life.

In Covid I began doing indoor exercise sessions. I was trying to become more active. I didn't like the way I looked and most importantly the way I felt. I gradually realized that after each session I felt a bit better and a bit more energized. Soon, after we were able to leave the house, I began practicing basketball on my own early in the mornings. At age 16, I was unrecognizable, physically and mentally. I was waking up early to exercise and began eating cleaner and cleaner on my own. I was also performing better in school, began writing better, and also became very interested in self-development as a concept and way of life. I grew taller and became very lean physically and not because I was forcing myself, but it was more so a natural by-product of becoming a better version of myself. I started doing karate and working out with weights which developed my athleticism, flexibility, and confidence tremendously. This period taught me the importance of starting your day right, the benefits of a healthy body and mind, and how changing habits doesn't merely require a change in behavior but rather a change in lifestyle.

I finished High School in three years at 16. However, rather than pursuing college, because I hadn't yet developed meaningfully to pursue a university worthwhile of going to, me and my mother thought best to pursue the IB Diploma at The Global College in the heart of Madrid – a new school which had a strategic alliance with IE University. Mallorca had been home to me for eleven years but I wanted more, I needed it. I needed an ecosystem that fostered greater activity and growth – and Madrid given our family was there and it was the capital of Spain was a natural step. Even though I had been in large part secluded from a social ecosystem for three years, I quickly and naturally adapted to The Global College environment. Prior to beginning I practiced public speaking vigorously because of my lack of practice, and soon because of that after several presentations became known for my public speaking abilities.

Shortly after the beginning of the schoolyear, something clicked in my mind. It was a transition from becoming simply better to literally embodying resilience, confidence, and a monk-like lifestyle to the uttermost extreme. I began doing Brazilian jiujitsu three days a week if not four during Sundays which was quite the development experience. I was very hard working – I would wake up at 4:30am, workout, have breakfast, and go to class at 8:00am. After that, I would study just IB-related topics all day until 5:30pm when I would have dinner at the school when I did jiu-jitsu, then do jiu-jitsu at 6:30pm, finish at 8:00pm, come home, shower, and go to sleep at 8:30 – 8:45pm. Nothing more, no social media, no news, nothing. I would limit myself to watching 90 minutes of Youtube and Instagram Saturday evenings.

I did that every single day for approximately the two years I was there and when I was not doing jiujitsu I was studying or learning. I forced myself to pursue extreme physical challenges that went against what my body desired because I wanted to test what my body was truly capable of – my morning workouts were brutal, my sprints, long runs, and jiujitsu sessions were miserable and not optimized for improvement but mental fortitude. Towards the end of 2022 I began to force myself to not sit down unless I was told so or forced to, which came to be because I would often fall asleep when I was sitting down out of extreme exhaustion. If I did so personally then I would think that I was weak which then negatively affected my confidence. I had a standing desk with no chair, ate without a chair, everything, even going days without sitting or laying down once until I went to bed. In long days where I would work out early, go to class, study, do volunteering, and have jiujitsu in the evening, I really really wanted to relax physically and put my legs to rest for one moment, but I mentally couldn't. I would cry in the streets when going to jiujitsu because I was extremely fatigued, and I knew that I was going to take even a greater physical beating in that session.

I would freeze myself, not putting radiators, or extra layers of clothes – in the winter I would shiver continuously every day I was in my room studying in my standing desk. When I walked outside to take my dog out, I would deliberately avoid the sunny areas opting for the shade to not sense the warmth which was what satisfied my body. All day I would dream of my dinner which was the only hot element I would sense all day. Because of this acute effect on my body, my body would become purple and extremely white, I would go to the bathroom at night three times, and was unable to be attentive at school because the warmth and sitting down combined easily made me close my eyes. In summer, I made myself only drink hot water and went to bed with my sheets on which was far from ideal. Friday evenings after a jiujitsu session which usually was more of a beating, I didn't let myself go to bed later but instead forced myself to go to bed at 8:45pm because I had to wake up before 5:00am the next day, which was a Saturday!

From a nutritional standpoint, I became eating extremely clean, only having veggies, lean meats, quinoa, sweet potatoes, fish, oatmeal, and fruits. There was barely 0 deviation from this diet my first year at the school. Again, I didn't even let myself have rice or potatoes because it was not the absolute best source of carbs. Early 2023, I stopped having lunch and instead opted for having a larger breakfast and dinner so I could have a greater period of focus in between. Of course, never even conceived the idea of drinking or smoking or partying or anything that did not lead to a better me. You can imagine how crazy people my age and other ages thought I was. I didn't care though. In early 2024 I explored further doing 3-day fasts, which was an extremely unique experience. As you may imagine, because of all this extreme activity and clean eating, I became physically even leaner but strong also, but a bit too lean, probably around 7-8% body fat both years. Looking back, I myself know it was absolutely crazy, but that was the entire point – to build a stack of evidence which I can always rely on as a source of confidence. It was not after I finished the IB exams on May 16th 2024 and had already told my jiujitsu gym that I would be leaving to Boston next year that I relaxed. I cried a lot after that last exam because I had myself, self-willingly with 0 influence from the outside imprisoned myself to be at the absolute edge of just breaking physically and mentally for two years. This period taught me resilience, optimizing for fortitude vs optimizing for performance, discipline, and understanding the limitations of living such a rigid and isolated lifestyle.

In late 2022 I founded the AI club because I thought ChatGPT was extremely effective and wanted to raise awareness of AI to the school. Most students didn't know what AI was, so I placed pamphlets around the school and began going to people in-person to convince them to join. Soon after, 1/3 of the student body joined and was great to create weekly workshops exploring different tools. The next Summer, I turned 18 and wanted to gain work experience so I printed out my resume, placed them in a folder, and went to all the restaurants I could see in Madrid and the nearby areas to give them my resume and express to them the value I could add. I had numerous interviews, including in Starbucks, Burger King, Dominoes, VIPS, and GOIKO. I thought this was a great learning experience to be discussing about potential employment with such renown chains. I was ultimately called by GOIKO to go in person. I began working for them in the weekends, combined with jiujitsu, school, and university applications. This period taught me the importance of multi-tasking, adaptability, cultural fluency, relationship building, and performing under stressful environments.

2024: I went to Northeastern University because of the work experience, co-op, and Boston location. I didn't really know what I wanted to do still so I pursued Economics and International Business – although looking back would have changed it to some form of engineering or biology and Business with Finance. Historically, before Boston, I loved classes, studying, and everything that was related to learning with teachers. However, because I had been experiencing with AI a lot already, I knew the only worthwhile college experience would be one where I could work and actually have an impact. In October 2024 I read a report by McKinsey titled "Arenas of Tomorrow" which enamored me completely. It was the scientific breakthroughs, visionary thinking, and transformative impact that such industries were deemed to be able to make on society that drew me to VC completely. Throughout this year I was in a state of optimizing for performance rather than pure grit as I did in Madrid. I left jiujitsu for the time being and decided to focus on making the most of pursuing a field that was worthwhile of pursuing.

The next Summer I had the fortune of working at VU Venture Partners' accelerator program, which increased my interest in VC even more. Surrounded by the most brilliant people I had ever been with +10 years older than me at the heart of San Francisco discussing about the funds' investments in SpaceX, Anduril, Starcatcher, Interlune etc… was the best work experience ever. That moment clicked for me. I knew I wanted to work in VC. I learned how to think in risk and return units, what questions to ask founders, and how to pitch deals in a concise and effective manner. I was just 19 at the time. This period taught me how to engage with senior members with delicate and complex information, adaptability, and the importance of fostering a network in VC.

Throughout my time speaking with founders and learning about the value of a network, I realized I really really enjoyed connecting with people. I realized this more so as I reconnected with friends from Europe as well as having coffee chats with employees across different firms that my energy was always higher after I had a call with them. It was the similar feeling I had as with exercise back in quarantine. As a result, I made a more intentional effort to build relationships with people from Europe, students at Northeastern, employees etc… While focusing on recruiting for co-op and Summer 2027 internships, I also realized I was very good at speaking with people I had never previously known about, and I was grateful for it, because I knew how awkward it was for many students to do that. Throughout the winter of 2025/2026, I was doing an investment banking internship remotely, interviews for Summer 2027, and my co-op at Raptor Group in its Private Investments group. This period taught me a lot about finance in both buy-side and sell-side terms, mental grit, and adaptability and versatility.