I am a former Buddhist monk from the plum Village tradition in southern France. I grew up in Los Angeles, California. At the age of 15 I ordained into the engaged Buddhist community of Zen Master, scholar, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh in southern France. I developed a deep personal mindfulness practice, while helping to coordinate multiple initiatives, including organizing international tours and retreats, facilitating mindfulness conferences, and structuring and teaching mindfulness classes for professionals, families, young adults, and children. I've taught and facilitated teaching tours for students at Brown University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Iona College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California Merced, University of Southern California (USC), University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Stanford University, and the School for Ethics and Global Leadership. I worked in administration, registration, finance, public relations, advertisement design, product design, retail management, customer service, team building, and photography for 12 years. I help coordinate the calligraphy exhibition “The Art of Mindfulness” by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was exhibited in multiple locations, including the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Plum Village Meditation Center, France, and ABC Home, New York (where it is housed permanently). I traveled to more than 20 countries, organized and co-facilitated more than 300 retreats around the world. I left the order in October 2015. Ever since then, I have been living in Queens, NY and attending Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.