After graduating college from UC Berkeley as a philosophy major, I got my start in the business world with my brother, we ran our father's petroleum distribution business. I managed sales & marketing, he handled the operations. We did well, ultimately selling the business to a national distributor.

In early 2000 I joined a national mortgage company (Novastar Mortgage) as an account executive. Within two years, I had become the number #1 producer in Southern California. Aside from business development, it was at Novastar where I first learned about capital markets, securitization, interest rates and their effects on currency valuation, etc...