After wearing many hats at a startup ecommerce software company for over 6 years, during which time it grew from 6 to 160 people, I took a giant leap and left the corporate world to create a business and lifestyle on my own terms. From there, Umami Marketing was born in 2011, a boutique virtual digital marketing agency, helping mainly B2B companies in the tech and software sectors grow their online presence.

I’m an explorer at heart, and after spending the last 8 years traveling the world while building my business and freedom and flexibility into my life, I wanted to be able to share this lifestyle and mindset with others, along with my beloved second home of Thailand. Growing up with a Thai mother who cooked traditional food as part of almost every meal on our family farm, I had the opportunity to really appreciate this cuisine. And after traveling to Thailand annually for over 10 years, I’ve learned even more about this unique culture and am excited to share it with others.

Traveling to all corners of the globe (40+ countries and growing), I’ve had the opportunity to design my lifestyle and live authentically in my day to day, connecting with others, instead of waiting to do so at a distant point in the future. My goal is to help others see the possibilities out there and unleash their potential.

When I’m not working, you can find me spending the summer in Vancouver enjoying the sunshine on the beach volleyball courts, reading multiple books, or savouring a glass of wine over a delicious meal. The rest of the year, you’ll catch me avoiding the rain and working remotely from all (tropical) corners of the globe, continuing to explore, connect, and learn.

Rivka and I met in 2013, while at a mastermind group in Barcelona where Rivka was holding a workshop and providing sessions to attendees. We immediately connected and kept in touch, and continue to meet up and travel together all over the world, about 3-4 times per year.

Over time, we came to realize that we had a unified vision and wanted to share our knowledge and experience in more depth with others by creating something special together. This has culminated in curating unique journeys for people to learn, explore, and connect with themselves and others in meaningful and beautiful locations around the globe.

As a kid growing up in an orthodox Jewish community, I saw how religion influenced every aspect of life. Belief gave people faith, strength and a sense of belonging. It also dictated our daily lives: when we ate and prayed, what we could wear, when we should work – almost everything had its basis in religion. There was also a sense of freedom in my upbringing – sunny days spent outdoors, laughing and playing with friends. But this wasn’t enough for me – still I realized true freedom has to be defined for oneself.

So, from a young age, I was certain of two things: that I wanted to make the most of my life, and to do that, I would need to take control of my own life, actively shaping every aspect of it for myself. In order to make this change I needed to reconfigure every element of my life, from my beliefs, to how I dressed, to how I interacted with others.

While this was not easy, as the years went by, I learned that we can define ourselves, and shape our own set of values. I saw how we can actively choose how we position ourselves in the world and who we surround ourselves with. I came to see that this was what freedom really meant: the ability to choose your own life, to tell your own story.

Over the last fifteen years I’ve amassed a wealth of professional experience from numerous forms of body-work. I’ve successfully coached hundreds of clients in various countries. Being a part of their growth and development brings me great happiness and satisfaction.

I’ve experienced firsthand how we can change almost any given situation if we choose to do so and it is a great source of satisfaction to now help others do the same. I work with people to help them identify habits, fears, pains and emotions that can be limiting. Once identified, I work to turn all of these into energy and power, to use them as a force of change.

Once we know how to stop what limits us, we will be able to live the life we want to lead.