From Public Housing to Startup Founder: My Journey to Building the Future of Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is often viewed as just a business model, the blending of purpose and profit. But for me, it’s something far more personal; it’s the unavoidable choice born from an upbringing defined by resource scarcity and the necessity of personal action. It is the conviction that if you see a systemic failure, you must be the one to be willing to take on the responsibility to fix it.

This belief, which now drives my work across various social ventures, is an accumulation of lessons learned. It is the foundation of who I am, and acts as my “why”.

I was born and raised in New York City public housing, in an environment where access to resources was perpetually limited. My father, who was permanently disabled from an injury in his work, was nevertheless my first and greatest teacher.

His most defining lesson was simple, but cemented itself into my personal philosophy: “If you want to see something changed for the better, you must be the one to start it. You can’t depend on other people to understand your process.”

This perspective taught me that even without wealth or status, personal initiative is the most powerful resource available to each of us.

This early lesson was reinforced by my lifelong commitment to the martial arts since the age of four, where I met my second lifelong teacher. I learned the discipline and simplicity of traditional Japanese culture under the guidance of Masahiko Honma, the founder and Sensei of Karatedo Honma Dojo, a small, spiritually sacred training space in the heart of Manhattan’s East Village.

Rising through the ranks, under the daily schedule of rigorous training and attention to detail, came with the responsibility of humility, always learning from those higher and lower than yourself in seniority. In the dojo, everyone was equal. Regardless of income level or background, everyone deserved the same respect and care. Martial arts taught me discipline, control, and the inherent worth of every individual.

My path to social entrepreneurship was forged over ten years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard, the one military branch multitasked with environmental conservation, maritime security, and search and rescue. In this demanding role, I was not only a first responder but also a perpetual student of crisis management and human resilience.

In the Coast Guard, you learn to thrive under immense pressure, managing complex search patterns, navigating treacherous seas, and coordinating multi-agency efforts in moments of true chaos. It was here that I learned the crucial skill of team coordination, where success is entirely dependent on trusting the person next to you and executing your role flawlessly. We learned to operate with discipline and emotional control, ensuring clarity in situations that demanded precision.

Above all, the Coast Guard ingrained in me the core ethical mandate: the willingness to risk your own safety for the sake of others. This dedication to self-sacrifice and the active commitment to protecting the vulnerable is the highest form of service.

The values instilled by my military experience, proactive action, coordinated response, and unwavering dedication to the protection of others became my non-negotiable standards. When I looked at the general public, I realized my greatest potential impact wasn’t just being the one to respond, but in empowering others to understand why they should too.

My personal journey and professional experience led me to an unavoidable conclusion: the social sector, particularly in complex areas like safety and veteran advocacy, requires the agility and scalability of a market-based approach. This is why I double down on social entrepreneurship.

My father taught me action over dependence. By building ventures that generate their own revenue, we ensure the mission is never compromised by external factors. We are in control of our own impact.

I am dedicated to solving problems that have resisted traditional solutions. This requires not just heart, but efficiency. Social entrepreneurship allows me to commit to a mental and moral risk, the daily struggle to achieve systemic change, while building models that generate both market value and social returns. Purpose and profit become mutually reinforcing forces that fuel growth and scale.

True change is achieved when accessibility meets excellence. My ventures are designed as integrated systems where for-profit efficiency drives innovation and creates a revenue stream, and non-profit accessibility ensures that essential programs are available to the individuals and communities who need them most.

This model is reflected in both of my current projects. With CitySafe, we address public safety by empowering individuals through proactive training, recognizing that personal preparation is more impactful than crime statistics.

With Five Borough Veterans, we tackle the systemic challenges facing the NYC military-connected community by creating an ecosystem that blends lobbying and advocacy with consulting and staffing services to drive education, political power, and economic opportunity.

These organizations act as the examples where my life’s philosophy is put into practice.

Beyond the systems and the strategy, the ultimate motivation for this life of social entrepreneurship is and always will be, my son.

Watching him grow will always be more valuable to me than any exit, any level of wealth, or any status a founder can achieve. While the world measures success in revenue and valuations, I measure it in the time spent raising a compassionate, resilient human being.

Every decision I make, every venture I launch, is driven by the desire to build a better, more empowered world, a world where he can thrive. I hope to pass on the lessons learned from my upbringing and my professional pursuits, not as tales of hardship, but as practical tools for his future: the mandate to take action, the understanding of equity, and the conviction that life’s greatest rewards come from taking risks for a greater purpose.

Family is my net worth. My commitment to social entrepreneurship is the tangible expression of the parental and philosophical responsibility of using enterprise to solve the problems I was once powerless against, and teaching my son, through example, how to build his own meaningful future.

The path from public housing to building systems for social change is challenging, but it is a mandate I proudly embrace. If you believe, as I do, that true impact begins with the actions of the individual, I invite you to join this conversation.

What is the biggest systemic challenge you believe requires a market-based solution?