Twenty-Seven

I just turned twenty eight alongside my twin and this feels like a good moment to celebrate and sit down to take a good look at this past year and spend a little bit of time looking ahead.

There are some years where doors don’t open or close, it’s just another year (which can be amazing thing!) This year was not that.

Reflections

Downtime

By September I was pretty much finished up with applications. I had spent the Spring and Summer taking the GRE (and then taking it two more times) and pulling together all of my application materials so by the time submission season rolled around I more or less had to just enter basic information into online forms, pay the egregiously expensive fee, and click submit.

I think I had annoyed the heck out of Duncan by this point, talking his ear off about business school every morning for a month when he would politely be trying to read the news. At the time, I was shooting for Dartmouth, Tuck and Darden, UVA, both great schools that felt very culturally up my alley. Emily, of course, was well on her way to getting into Harvard even though at the time it looked like a long way away.

I finished applying in late September and coasted for the remainder of 2025. DC had a beautiful fall and while Emily was still working a ton, we managed to find time to get dinners and drink with friends. I, luckily, played a whole lot of tennis as well. At the time I was working remotely and work barely registered on my day to day. I read a lot, and then I read some more. Emily and I also took a world class trip to Argentina where I met up with her at the end of work, spent a night at a very fancy hotel her company was paying for, and then we flew out into the Patagonia region. A lot of that trip is a happy blur interspersed with very acute moments of clarity. I can very clearly picture the warm light bouncing off my wine glass at Don Julio. We’re sitting on the second-floor balcony overlooking the main area and the clatter of the chefs working the grill below and the chatter from the diners is in the background. We’ve both had 4 glasses of wine and we’re excited to be in another city in another country on another continent. Just us. I also very visibly remember Emily screaming when we were walking out of this beautiful lakeside cottage dinner where they had served us a chilled white wine dunked in ice in a big silver bucket at the side of the table. We were walking across the grass back to our hotel when a big furry dog bounded out of the shadows. It was, hilariously, tailed by a tiny little dog who barked at us even more ferociously while the big dog was friendly.

By the time Christmas rolled around we had both “gotten the call” and were accepted to Tuck and to Harvard respectively (Harvard never gave me an interview).

Discernment

In February, Emily and I went to Idaho with Will, Otto, and Grace and it was such a blast. We skied for two days, hiked around (despite Will moaning about it the whole time) and spent a lot of time in Casino. I had this moment of complete clarity in Casino (the dive bar) one night, after maybe 4 Coors Banquets, watching Will and Otto play pool with Grace. Suddenly I just had this feeling in my gut that going to school meant giving up on this moment, and I knew that I didn’t want to. That was the beginning of the process, and I spent an enormous amount of time wrestling with the decision. It was hard to know what the “right” call was. Especially then – I hadn’t broken into brand, didn’t love my job, and felt disconnected from so much of the real world from working from home. But the point of making a decision like that is that it should feel, instinctively, like the right decision when it’s the hardest decision to make. It means less if everything is tee’d up for it already. I said no to Tuck and no to Darden. I was surprised by how little I felt about it. Of course I was worried about everything that was coming after, but I never second guessed the decision and I still haven’t. Someone told me that they always bet on people and that’s never steered them wrong. I agree.

Providence

I don’t know what it was, but after I made that decision things started falling into place. I was offered a brand marketing role at Mars which I accepted internally (I had already been doing the work) but soon after announced I was leaving to take a job at WHOOP, leading Executive Search. I had reached out to their talent acquisition lead after I moved to Boston and it turned out they were looking for someone to build their Executive Recruiting function. It felt like providence, truly. Everything just fit, and I started in June (in person) in Boston. I love it. It’s hard, much meatier than any other job that I’ve had, and I often feel like I’m barely treading water. But all the friction and experience that I was hoping to get out of a full time MBA has been handed back to me in spades through this role.

The Year

Is there a theme for this year? Not necessarily, but it is a year where I feel like I found my footing, despite all the change.

Twenty-seven was a year with multiple years squished into it. Emily and I made big career changes and even bigger life changes. We moved cities, made new friends and said bye to some old ones. But, in hindsight, the most important things stayed the same. I got to spend a ton of time (too much) with my friends in DC. Jack, Ryan, Duncan, Julian. Last year, everyone still felt like they were there and present. At the tail end people started drifting off to other cities and starting their own new chapters, but for most of last year it still felt like the tail end of our early to mid-twenties. We had a ton of great meals both at home and out. DC is an amazing food city and I miss that part of it a lot. I got to work out as much as I wanted. There weren’t any big races this year but I got to play a lot of tennis, ran a ton, and spent a lot of the winter building strength, something I hadn’t been as committed to heading into the start of the year.

As I often find myself doing I look back on last year full of gratitude. The process of discernment, unsurprisingly, led to discernment. I was telling Emily last night that I feel like I (and we) are in the right place. I mean that. It didn’t look like it from the start, but all of the things I was most anxious about at the start of this last year came together, and it seems to me that the job, the apartment, the move, all of it is in the right spot. As always, I’m grateful.

Favorites from 27

Top Three Things I Read

• Washington, A Life, by Ron Chernow — I had to include this because it took me forever to read. I made a goal to work through the founding fathers biographies last year and while I am almost through Franklin’s the one I finished last year was Washington’s. It’s a great read and now I annoy the shit out of Emily with various Washington fun facts all the time (especially in Boston!)
• London Falling, by Patrick Radden Keefe — I think PRK is a fantastic author. He writes in a manner I would love to emulate, where he builds a story through anecdotes that quickly pull you in. This book touched on a lot of the themes that personally interest me – wealth and how its represented, class and status, and a bit of thriller/crime thrown in for good measure.
• Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan — Because we all know my favorite genres are Fantasy & Sci Fi I had to add at least one. This is a sci fi book set in a dystopian, hyper-scientific future and follows a beat up, down on his luck investigator who fits the old world-weary detective narrative with a creative sci-fi twist. This is a beach read if there ever was one.

Top Three Favorite Songs

• The Kill, by Maggie Rogers — Killer good song, I listened to this a ton this year and believe that this album was by far the best album of this last year.
• S.o.s by Jogitz — An objectively bad song but for some reason I love it. I work out to this all the time.
• I’m in Love by Jelani Aryeh — Did not expect this song to be in my top three but every time I listen it hits.

Three Favorite Activities

• Hiking in Patagonia — This can’t be beat. Eating amazing picnics with Emily all the way in Southern Argentina was amazing. Plus, to slip this in there, our dinner at Don Julio sitting on the second floor overlooking the main room with a bottle of wine was also an Argentina highlight.
• Tennis — I played a lot of tennis this year mostly with Jack and Julian. They were both a blast to play with for different reasons. Julian has beautiful form and we could rally at the baseline for ever. It felt like classic tennis. Jack, on the other hand, was always willing to play, and was scrappy with a big swing. It was junk tennis but still tennis.
• Morning Coffee — Last year, Duncan and I established an accidental habit. Every weekday morning whoever got up first would put the coffee on. I would bring down my book and Duncan had the paper and we would end up shooting the shit for 30 minutes. This is the point of roommates!

Top Trip

It has to be Argentina (followed by Istanbul). Emily and I had a blast in Argentina. It was our first time traveling together internationally and we both loved everything we did: hiking, great food, walking the city. Buenos Aires is extremely welcoming and we can’t wait to go back.

Goals for 28

• Climb a mountain: I literally want to do this and am going to take a 3-day course to learn a bit more about how to ice climb.
• Build ongoing strength & endurance: I’ve been a bit worried since I started in the office that I haven’t been working out enough. This is incredibly important to me and I want to prioritize it.
• Read 4 Challenging Books: I want to read two more founding father biographies and two books that are a bit more of a slog.
• Make a printed product: I love design and I love designing real, tangible things. I want to make and ship a product this year.
• Decide on MBA: Apply to MIT and figure out the best approach to an MBA.
• Personal Site: Launch a thoughtfully designed personal site, ask someone for a design critique.
• Join a Tennis League: Just do it!
• Support Emily: Emily is starting an impressive but significant new journey. I want to focus on being a great partner as she navigates that this next year.
• Accelerate at Work: I’m not looking for a promotion but continuing to lean in to my new role and building credibility and community has been so fulfilling for me.