How Did You Get Your Start?

My first business started in high school, building websites for my parents' friends' businesses.

I was building a bunch of websites, hiring people to write content, and selling ads on mine as well as other people’s websites. I had an itch to scratch and wasn’t smart enough to think “maybe a 16-year-old should be doing other things.” But, I had bills to pay.

Fast forward, I’m at UVA, and I shut down the businesses because I was busy with school. There wasn't a hospitable environment for entrepreneurship back then at UVA, so it was a lot of solo tinkering until I realized this was what I really liked doing.

I graduated, headed back to Miami, and the job offers sucked. One paid 26K / yr in NYC. They suggested I live with my parents to save money and I was like “my parents are 3,000 miles away.”

So I went back to what I knew: building websites for small businesses.

A few of my friends and mutual family members were using excel or paper to run their companies, and I saw an opportunity. I built super simple web-based software, and I’d ask my customers "Do you know anyone who needs this?” I got new clients through referrals and word of mouth.

That business ended up supporting me for 15+ years, and I didn’t have to get a “real job” until my mid 30s. 

Even though I was building startups, I didn’t have any formal business education, so I got an MBA from Northwestern.

For so long, I’d been mentoring others. It led me to working at UMiami, after my MBA, where I was mentoring hundreds of entrepreneurs. I did that for 7 years, and then UVA, which was looking to expand their entrepreneurship program, reached out.

I’ve been the Director of Student Entrepreneurship here at UVA since 2024.