now find myself dedicated to empowering children, not just to learn, but to love learning.
You and me both. After a 5 year career editing highlights for NBA-TV, I also made the switch to pursue a masters in education and begin my career as a teacher. As part of my teacher training, we took a 14-day tour of Southeast Asia to study how their ministries of education structure their national educational programs, which was an amazing experience. We toured public schools in Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia. I would love to make it back to Southeast Asia one day. I love the lifestyle, and I love the flavors.
I've taught across the US in Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Phoenix, AZ and back home in NYC. I'm currently very lucky to be teaching at a middle school two blocks from where I live in Brooklyn. It is a great charter school and a great teaching experience.
I'm curious what your school and educational programming is like where you're at. What do you do in your role in education? Thanks for sharing, mate!
Wow, I love this. From NBA-TV highlights to molding minds—that’s a hell of a pivot, and one that resonates with me on a few levels. It’s always amazing to meet someone who’s felt that same inner pull: not just to teach, but to help kids fall in love with learning itself. Rare breed, Duce! I would kill to have access to a few more educators with that sort of passion & presence in the classroom.
That Southeast Asia tour sounds incredible. Singapore’s system is fascinating (not to mention wildly efficient), & I’ve got deep respect for the cultural value placed on education across the region. But even still - it's broken, too–granted it's broken for different reasons (hence my chosen livelihood) than back home, but it can certainly benefit from some broad stroke refreshes, as well.
I’ve been based in Taiwan for a while now, and while I didn’t plan to stay this long… the community, the lifestyle and the sense of possibility here really grabbed me.
The "school" I co-partner is a bit of a learning lab—we’re trying to build something human-centered, joy-driven & deeply rooted in real-world learning. We work with kids from ages 4–15, blending language immersion, project-based exploration & storytelling-rich experiences. We’ve got kids building worlds in Minecraft, investigating world-class heists, cooking middle Eastern falafel & bottling lightning.
I'm a little of an everything—vision-holder, curriculum designer, mentor and janitor. I love rollin up my sleeves & wearing different hats on an hour–to–hour basis. My days are rarely the same & they're almost always a blast to be a part of.
If you're curious, I actually just published a piece that tries to capture the heart of our work here:
Where Fish Don’t Climb Trees
It’s more story than sales pitch, but I hope it gives a feel for what we're building out here.
If you ever make your way back to Southeast Asia, I’d love to connect—door's always open. Really grateful you took the time to read and share, brother. Appreciate the work you’re doing in Brooklyn and beyond.
🫶