Life rarely moves in straight lines, and my journey has been no exception. I began with engineering, detoured through psychology, and eventually found myself embedded in the web3 rabbit hole. Each step felt distinct at the time, but looking back, I see the quiet patterns that connect them—a constant curiosity and a drive to make meaningful contributions.
The slow, steady nature of growth
I’ve always been drawn to sports. Growing up, I played hockey and handball—not the most technical player, but I was usually the fastest on the team. At some point, I realized that I might never excel at them, but I could channel that speed into something else. That’s how I found running. It started casually, joining a running club at a local gym, but soon became a core part of my life. Seven years later, I’ve run countless races and continue working to improve, one step at a time.
Running has taught me that progress doesn’t come in quick bursts. It’s not about one big effort or a single finish line. Real growth happens through consistency—by showing up, day after day, even when it’s hard or the results feel distant. Improvement is built slowly, through small, deliberate actions that accumulate over time.
This lesson shapes how I approach work and life, I’ve learned to prioritize steady, meaningful progress over quick wins. The same patience and persistence that gets me through training runs also help me tackle every challenge.
Running is also where I find clarity. Those long, quiet kilometers offer space to think—not just about immediate problems but about the bigger picture: where I’m headed, what really matters, and how I want to get there. It’s often during these moments that I find solutions or come to decisions that have felt out of reach during the busyness of daily life.
Perhaps the most important lesson running has taught me is how to navigate uncertainty. The path ahead is never entirely clear—whether in a race or in life. But uncertainty isn’t something to shy away from. It’s something to engage with, to adapt to, and to learn from.
This perspective aligns with what I find most inspiring about web3. It’s not just a technological shift; it’s a rethinking of how we interact, collaborate, and create value together. Being part of this space is a reminder of what’s possible when people align around shared visions, even if the road to get there isn’t fully mapped out.
Engineering, Psychology, and the overlap we often miss
When I reflect on my academic background, it’s clear that the pieces fit together in unexpected ways. Engineering gave me a framework to think structurally, to break down complex systems and build from first principles. Psychology, in contrast, taught me to look at systems from the inside out—to understand the people within them, their behaviors, and motivations.
What I find compelling now is how these disciplines, which initially seemed so distant, have converged. In leading teams or scaling systems, I often rely on this dual lens. Logic and empathy are not opposites; they’re complements, and bridging them creates clarity in decision-making and leadership.
Building with purpose
From a young age, I’ve been drawn to questioning the status quo. I often felt that the way things were done wasn’t necessarily the best way—that there was always room for improvement, innovation, and doing things differently. This mindset became more than just a personal philosophy when I started working at Let’sBit, a small but ambitious startup. There, I experienced firsthand what it means to challenge conventions. Each team member was committed to rethinking how crypto could work for the masses, driven by a shared belief in making its benefits accessible to everyone.
Today, I continue that mission as COO at GraphOps, a blockchain infrastructure company. At GraphOps, we support The Graph, a decentralized protocol that serves as the indexing layer for web3—an essential piece of infrastructure for building a more open and inclusive internet.
Before joining GraphOps, I also worked with Exactly Protocol and Defiant Wallet.
Conclusion
Each step, from my personal lessons of running to the professional challenges of navigating web3 startups, has shown me that growth and innovation rarely follow straight lines. It’s the unexpected turns that often make the biggest impact. As I continue building in web3, I’m reminded that meaningful progress is not about finding shortcuts but about the commitment to keep moving forward, one step at a time.