ABOUT ME

The short version: I used to live (study, work) in Philadelphia, moved to Bulgaria in September 2008. My background is in advertising and consumer psychology, worked at an ad agency as an account planner (industry lingo for strategist), and in the process of it started a creative culture blog called Brain Pickings. Somehow, it evolved into a pretty big project, so now I spend most of my time writing and editing that.

Meanwhile, Brain Pickings got me a number of freelance writing gigs, so I now write for BusinessWeek and WiredUK.

I'm applying to grad schools this fall, exploring the intersection of design, technology and content curation. (Yah, it's OK if you're confused – so am I.)

Oh and I'm obsessed with the TED conference. (If you don't know it, you should check it out, chances are you'll end up loving it as well – ted.com)

PHILOSOPHY

Just do it. If you don't know how to, teach yourself, then do it.

Interests

Creative culture – design, animation, photography, miscellaneous interestingness.

Psychology.

Twitter – I spend entirely too much time on it (@brainpicker) but, in my defense, it's closely related to my work.

• culture
• writing
• design
• photography
• bodybuilding
• technology
• blogging
• animation
• freelancing
• psychology
• science
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

Emiliana Torrini, She & Him, Kings of Convenience, Peter Bjorn & John, Zee Avi, Federico Aubele, Rachael Yamagata, Billie Holiday, I'm From Barcelona, A Fine Frenzy, Trolle//Siebenhaar, The Magic Numbers, Kate Nash, The Bird & the Bee, Taken By Trees, Paolo Nutini, Junior Boys, Feist, Jamie Cullum, Bird York, Regina Spektor, Apples in Stereo, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Blondie, Telepopmusik, Guillemots

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Not "amazing," but:

Competed in bodybuilding.

Raised funds via Twitter and my blog readers to go to the TED conference. ($5400, to be exact.)

Taught myself motion graphics by shutting myself in my apartment for 6 days straight, with nothing but 70+ hours of tutorials and some software to play with.

Put myself through college by working 3 jobs.

Teach, Learn, Share

TED – ted.com

25 years worth of phenomenal talks by the world's most brilliant thinkers across technology, entertainment, design, science, and everything in between. The best thing you can do for your personal development and enlightenment – really. Check it out.