Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.|

Seneca

 

Finance and Investment

I’ve worked for three large investment firms. I started with and was trained by Merrill Lynch, prior to the Bank of America takeover.

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I hold current (but inactive) Series 7 and Series 66 licenses as well as an Arizona Insurance license. I previously held an NMLS license but do not currently have one.

I am very familiar with modern finance in all of its forms. I’ve worked for a large Wall Street firm, a multinational insurance company and the biggest retail investment firm in the USA.

I understand how to talk to people about their investment needs, whether it’s explaining the intricacies of 401ks or 529s to regular folks, putting together a syndicate of sophisticated investors, facilitating a Reg D offering for an entrepreneur or structuring a project internationally to maximize tax and regulatory advantages.

I understand money and the business of money quite well.

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Waste no more time in arguing what a good man should be. Just be one.

Marcus aurelius

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Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.

Epictetus

Creative

I’ve been involved in creative pursuits for most of my life, starting at age 11 when I was selected for a special program for creative kids at the University of South Florida. I went to a high school which focused on the performing and visual arts and and then went to film school at USC, where I majored in film production.

In my 20’s, I worked in Hollywood doing various film and TV jobs. At one time or another, I’ve done almost every job you can do on a movie set but the bulk of my experience isas a writer, from ghostwriting editorials for the Hollywood Reporter to working in television development for the President of the USA network to writing independent feature films.

I have two screenwriting credits in IMDB for film that were actually made (including “Spirits”) but like everyone else in Hollywood, I’ve also written and sold a number of scripts that were never made.

These days my creative pursuits tend to involve creating content for the web. I have a small independent digital marketing business. I create websites for small businesses and help them formulate and implement a digital marketing plan. For more on Ars Minerva Digital Agency, click here.

I’m also an accomplished photographer and videographer. I do that under the brand Glamworks. You can find out more about that on the Glamworks website or on Instagram. I am a general commercial photographer but my focus is on beauty, fashion, society events and entertainment.

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“Things don’t happen, they are made to happen.”

John F. Kennedy

Businesses I’ve Started

I’ve started businesses in Thailand, South Africa, Brazil and Guatemala as well as the United States.

 

Power Nutrition, Ltd.

Bangkok Thailand

I started a business in Thailand called Power Nutrition. PN was the first company in Thailand to receive a license to manufacture protein powder in Thailand. I grew the company from the ground up, starting in my living room and ending up with 33 employees and 4 retail stores.

 

 

When I was 26, I started a business in Brazil called Atlantis Mining Company, exporting mineral specimens to the USA. I had my domestic office in Miami and more than 500 wholesale customers in the USA.

South Africa

In 1996, I started a business based in Los Angeles and Johannesburg, exporting American poultry to South Africa, which had just opened up to American business following the election of Nelson Mandela as president.

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”

General George S. Patton