Early Foundations.

I began my career in the Navy as a sonar technician, where I developed an early appreciation for precision, awareness, and how sound and environment interact—an experience that would influence my path in unexpected ways.

Working with sonar meant learning to listen carefully. The smallest change in tone or signal could reveal something important. That early experience with sound, attention, and pattern recognition would later shape many of the ideas I explore today.

Food, Craft, and the Discipline of Fundamentals

After leaving the Navy, I trained as a classical chef at Le Cordon Bleu, where I developed a deep respect for food, craft, and the discipline of mastering fundamentals.

Cooking taught me something that would continue to guide my work: the simplest ingredients, when understood deeply, can produce extraordinary results. Good food, like good craftsmanship, comes from understanding the essentials rather than chasing complexity.

Entrepreneurship and Building Businesses.

From there my career expanded into entrepreneurship. Over the years I built and operated businesses across several industries, including an antiques company, a publishing house, a lumber export business, and a nutraceutical company.

Each of these ventures taught me something different about how ideas move from concept to reality—and how persistence, clarity, and good fundamentals are often more valuable than complicated strategies.

Publishing and Writing.

As founder of Collectors Press, I published more than 125 books on art, antiques, and popular culture.

During this time I also became an author myself, writing The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Classic American Recipes. The book was written after I struggled to find a cookbook that stayed true to the classics—especially the spirit of The Joy of Cooking. Food & Wine later named it one of the year’s best cookbooks.

Writing and publishing gave me a deep appreciation for how ideas spread and how books can influence the way people think and live.

Wood, Craftsmanship, and Materials.

Along the way I was also called back to help rebuild and run my family’s global lumber export business, gaining a deep appreciation for wood, materials, and craftsmanship.

Working closely with wood—from forests to finished products—gave me an unusual perspective on how materials shape the tools we use, from buildings to musical instruments.

Work Today.

Today my work focuses on two areas that may seem different on the surface but are connected by a common theme: improving how we experience life.

Through NutriGardens, I work on science-based functional foods designed to support circulation, performance, and healthy aging, including the development of red spinach extract used by professional and Olympic athletes.

At the same time, my work with guitar, sound, and listening explores how music and attention shape our mental and emotional experience. This work forms the foundation of my book In Search of the Perfect Guitar, which explores how a search for tone gradually became a deeper exploration of listening, awareness, and human experience.

The Common Thread.

Across all of these projects—food, business, sound, and writing—the underlying idea is the same:

Small practices, understood deeply, can transform how we live.