Hey, this is People Watching, where we help you discover under-the-radar people.
Did anyone write a 2024 year in review? We would love to read! Here is Jordan’s.
People:
Grace Gerwe’s summarizes her bio as: “My whole personality is building tech that will push the needle of humanity and competing in endurance sport.” She got into endurance sports because doctors told her she wouldn't be able to run (she have a congenital heart defect). In 8 months she went from nothing to earning myself a spot at Ironman World Championships (0.0006% qualification rate) where she will be racing in Kona, Hawaii, on October 14th, 2025. She’s building focused ultrasound stimulation and neuronavigation systems. She also made energy bars made from organ meat by working at a butcher and testing recipes in a shared student kitchen. She also speaks 6 languages and has lived in 7 countries. You can learn more about Grace here.
Juan David Campolargo learned English in 6 months. He is a software engineer and biophysicist. He also wrote a book, a screenplay, and hundreds of essays. He wrote about being a crazy motivated high school kid here. You can read his personal story here.
Jason Benn “went from an unhappy financial consultant with no math or programming skills to a (much happier) machine learning engineer after five years of part-time, self-directed study, for which he was profiled in Cal Newport's "Deep Work".” These days he is the founder of the Neighborhood (and now City Campus, and City Campus Real Estate), a one-square mile community of communities in SF that aims to recapture the vibes of a university campus, but for all generations.
Hersh Desai works for Nat Friedman & Daniel Gross where he invests in startups and helps run their accelerator.
Annie Brett is an “oceanographer, explorer, and lawyer who spent her time thinking up novel ways to solve wicked ocean problems for Stanford and the World Economic Forum. In the more romantic past she spent several years as the youngest female captain in the Pacific, visiting remote islands, learning how to fix anything with duct tape, and amassing sea stories with an 18-person crew.”
Note:
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