My Story

I was raised in the Bronx, right at the tail end of the fires that devastated the borough and left generations of New Yorkers feeling abandoned by City Hall. Born at Albert Einstein Hospital, I grew up on Kingsbridge and Grand Concourse, where going to church meant walking past addicts and sex workers making their early morning rounds. I lived just a block away from the Bronx's infamous Heroin Alley on Valentine Avenue.

I was born in The Bronx in the 80’s when battles with City Hall resulted in fires which burned down thousands of homes.

I was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, which meant my childhood was spent knocking on doors, talking to strangers about Jesus, and preparing people for what we believed were the end times. Looking back, it was 18 years of intensive training in community outreach, public speaking, rejection, persuasion, and seeing firsthand how people lived in some of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. In high school, my family was able to move from needing government assistance to owning their home in upstate New York. 

I left the church when I was 18 to live a secular life, but my faith in Christ was never far behind.

I went through New York City's public schools and benefited from the Gifted programs that once gave kids from neighborhoods like mine a real shot at succeeding. Those opportunities changed my life. Today, many of those programs have been eliminated by Mayor Mamdani, while City Hall finds new priorities and tries to make all our children equally uneducated.

But this is my story, so let's get back to it.

In 10 years I went from industry outsider to running a magazine and sitting front row at fashion week.

Decade in Fashion

I started my career in fashion by building an independent fashion network called FashionIndie. It eventually grew to roughly five million unique visitors a month—bigger than Vogue's online readership for two straight years. I sold the company, became Chief Marketing Officer at Rebecca Minkoff, consulted for Louis Vuitton and Burberry, and later founded Socialyte, the first digital influencer agency, representing creators who are still household names today.

That business eventually merged with Nylon Media, where I became EVP of Digital and Publisher.

Those years gave me opportunities I'll never take for granted. I traveled the world, sat front row at fashion shows, built companies I was proud of, managed teams of more than sixty people, and met extraordinary people I'm fortunate to still call friends.

After a decade in fashion, I wanted to build something completely different.

After fashion I went for passion, creating The New Society for Wellness, a members-club for sexual wellness and bettering relationships.

Driven by Passion

I entered the sexual wellness industry and founded The New Society for Wellness—better known as The NSFW—a private members club centered around consent culture, relationships, dating, and sexual wellness through education, workshops, and community events. Over the last decade we've grown into a community of more than 10,000 members and received international press coverage.

After ten years focused on love, relationships, and building communities, I'm ready to dedicate the next chapter of my life to politics and to giving back to the city that raised me.

As a lifelong New Yorker who's experienced this city at both its lowest lows and highest highs, I believe it's my responsibility to help steer the Bronx and Upper Manhattan away from becoming New York's dumping grounds and toward becoming neighborhoods that are safe, prosperous, beautiful, and worth investing in.