I SPENT
THREE YEARS
IN PRISON.

I spent three years in prison.

That’s a little misleading, but it’s not inaccurate. And it’s definitely important for my story.

I worked in prisons around 2010, teaching re-entry skills to inmates—the skills they’d need to navigate a world they hadn’t seen in 20+ years. One of those skills was writing.

To be clear, they did not have writing skills. At least not how I’d been taught. Grammar, terrible. Vocabulary, basic. Sentence structure, nonexistent.

But damn if they weren’t the best writers I’d ever met. They could spin stories and flow argument better than any professor I had. In prison, I learned a valuable lesson: writing ability doesn’t matter unless the story’s worth telling.

So that’s what I’ve been up to since. Trying to make the choices that make my life a story worth telling. And so far:

I grew up a carpenter. Raised on a peacock and miniature donkey farm. Worked with hardened criminals. Performed circus for four years. Played saxophone for ten. Published for electrical engineering. Studied psychology. And along the way, was bankrolled by the US State Dept to learn Arabic to fluency.

I jumped into advertising because an agency in Jordan needed a Western face for clout in meetings. They called me a copywriter—a term I had to Google. I stayed a while, then was snagged by JWT Dubai, where I won a dozen awards and was gone before they were delivered. Then I was hire #4 at Nomads Dubai, and helped grow that place to 50 folks.

I moved with them to Amsterdam, then left a year later with my CEO to start a new agency, Zerotrillion. In the next 4.5 years, we grew to 3 offices, a few dozen people, and a list of client wins and industry honours that’ll make me blush if you ask too much about it.

Then I left. Plot twist. A predictable story isn’t much of one.

What I realized was this: the greatest value I was having wasn’t just in the campaigns I helped create, but in how I helped people communicate—internally, externally, and with conviction. So I pivoted.

Now I’m a communication consultant, teamed up with Stand & Deliver. Since joining, I’ve worked across three continents and helped train over 1,500 people from Fortune 500 companies to communicate with clarity, presence, and power.

So yeah. Still making stuff. Just now, I’m helping other people do the same—with their words, their ideas, their voices.

Because the right story, well told, still changes everything.

If you’re an ambitious individual who wants to become a powerful speaker—or an organization ready to level up how your team connects—drop me a message. Let’s talk.