💁♂️ Introduction. Here is a business bio. Below you’ll find a personal bio.
“Matt was the Youth Governor of Virginia (2004) and on the Virginia All-State Track Team (2004, '05). He was Harvard student body VP and President (2007-'09). He graduated with honors in philosophy. He wrote for SCOTUSblog.com (2010), was a US State Department Fulbright Scholar and Professor in Argentina (2010-'11), and was a PM on the Facebook Privacy Team (2012-'13). He was a Student Fellow at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession (2012-14). He is a co-founder of Plotly (COO 2012 - 2015) and named to the 40 under 40 for data (2015). He was a Product Manager for Change.org (2015) and launched Water Equity for Water.org (2016). His work has 600+ citations (Senate Judiciary Committee, Yale Law Review, NYT). Since 2017 he has worked for Burning Man Project, where he serves as the Director of Fly Ranch. He applies collective action solutions, open-source approaches, land stewardship, and emergent strategy.”
🌱 Origin. I was born in Charlottesville, VA in 1987 and grew up in Harrisonburg, VA. I was homeschooled in elementary school, went to a religious middle school, and a public high school: Harrisonburg High School. My first job was on a 2,000 acre farm. My second was as the head clown at Partyland. My third was for a funnel cake food truck. My brother Josh had cancer for two years, was on chemotherapy for a year and a half, had his leg amputated, and wrote a national bestseller on our family that is now an AppleTV show (NYT review here). My mom has had Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma since I was ten and is a model of grit and healthy living.
🏫 High school was spectacular. I was student body president, track team captain, soccer team captain, and a two year all-state track team member. As 2004-5 Youth Governor of Virginia I was recognized for dedication and service in the U.S. House of Representatives (see: 150 Cong. Rec. H80). I was 2005 chair of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. I sang in Carnegie Hall and was homecoming and prom king. I gave the commencement address at Harrisonburg High School a few years after I graduated on housing in America.
🎓 College was busy. I studied philosophy at Harvard from 2005-09 with a focus on ethics. I cleaned bathrooms and worked as a Dorm Crew Captain for ~2.5K hours. I co-organized Harvard’s first day of service. I was Harvard Student Body VP and President. I was the student rep on two committees that changed policies: President’s Committee on Improved University Policing and Administrative Board Review Committee. The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee sponsored and organized a trip I attended to meet government officials and participate in an Olympic flame ceremony. I’ve visited 26 other countries. I was Senator Mark Obenshain’s Legislative Aide and helped write healthcare legislation. I earned a high school history and English teaching degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I taught for a year at Cambridge Community Charter School.
📚 Social Contract & the Law. I have an interest in ethics, law, and the social contract. In philosophical questions and style I’ve tried to emulate and build on Tommie Shelby, Selim Berker, Susan Wolf, Kyle Whyte, Tom Goldstein, and David Wilkins. Professor Shelby—Philosophy Professor and African and African American Studies Dept. Chair—advised my honors senior thesis ("Only God Can Judge Me: Codes of Conduct in the Non-Ideal Political Climate of Tupac’s America”). In 2010-11 I worked for Akin Gump’s Supreme Court Practice in DC as a writer for SCOTUSblog.com. My most cited articles are Imprecise Language & Citizens United Polling and Cameras & the Supreme Court. I was a Student Fellow in the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession from 2012-13. I’ve published a few articles:
🇪🇺 Europe. After college I backpacked from Turkey to Spain with my best friend Jim. We were students at L’Abri, a Swiss philosophical community. We backpacked, hitchhiked, and visited twelve countries on a $3,000 budget.
🇦🇷 Argentina. I was a US State Department Fulbright Scholar in San Juan, Argentina 2010-11. I lived in a rural desert, spoke Spanish for a year, was a professor at the National University of San Juan, and published articles on sundials and education(see: Dialing at Chalet De Graffigna, 17 The Compendium 16 (2010) and Argentina’s Long-Suffering Universities, 5 Am. Q. 112 (2011)). I enjoyed friendships focused on soccer, quality of life, good food, dancing, and fun. I worked as a translator for a gold mine called Pascua Lama. I shed some ambition. I felt deep connections, relational and personal beliefs, and ecological concern.
🌈 SF. In 2011 I moved to San Francisco. I worked on the Facebook Privacy Team. I have always used a flip phone. In 2012 I became interested in open-source collective action solutions. I was influenced by The Cathedral and the Bazaar and Statistical Modeling: The Two Cultures. I co-founded Plotly and was COO three years. I was named to the 40 under 40 for data. In 2015 I wrote two articles with The White House for the Obama Climate Data Initiative. That project made it clear to me that climate change threatens our survival. I wanted to work on the climate emergency. I was a product manager at Change.org in 2016 and influenced by Rules for Radicals. I consulted for Water.org to build an open source microfinance platform to fund toilets and water. I’d had a transactional relationship with water but have tried to move towards a spiritual one. I am worried that we’ll run out of potable water around 2040.
🌿 Land is sacred. In 2016 I was a Land Stewardship Apprentice at Green Gulch Zen Center. My stay, Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, Tao: The Watercourse Way, The Tao of Physics, and the Tao Te Ching helped me build daily yoga and sitting practices. I build my days around them. In 2016 I saw dozens of colors I didn’t know existed with color blind glasses. I felt connected to a divine being. I have sought interdependent, reciprocal, and kinship-based relationships with people, ecology, land, life, and the universe.
🔥 Burning Man. Since 2017 I’ve worked for Burning Man Project, the non-profit organizer of an 80,000 person desert campout. I am the Director of Fly Ranch. We’ve converted a 5.9 sq mi (3.8K acres) dumping ground into a participant-led art park, community center, healthy ecosystem, and functional ranch. I facilitated our 2030 Sustainability Roadmap.
📖 Land. I grew up on Manahoac land , went to college on Massachusett land, lived on Huarpe land in Argentina, and live on Ramaytush Ohlone land. I work and travel on and through Numu land. I’ve learned from the National Congress of American Indians, Indigenous Women Hike, & Native Land. I contribute to the Yunakin Land Tax. Resources welcome. I’m learning how to relate to this.
🧘 Personal. My daily meal Matt’s Plate is on the menu at Java Supreme. I’m plant-based. I’ve had wonderful experiences with intentional communities, transformative events, therapy, and workshops. In 2016 my decades of crippling back pain ended when I read Healing Back Pain, did a Gokhale workshop, and realized my pain stemmed from unreleased emotions. I’ve been impacted by Morehouse, Eastern Body, Western Mind, No Bad Parts, Hands of Light, and Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery. In general, I’ve moved from universal views to useful preferences and a personal code I get satisfaction from following. It doesn’t seem like a viable moral imperative to come up with universal rules or morals. My aspiration is to try and be humane, loving, grounded.
🤸 Reach out. Feel free to write and say hey, send book recommendations, or tell me about your favorite place in nature to look at colors.