I’m the author of The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won’t Learn in College About How to Be Successful (Penguin, 2011), and the co-author of The Last Safe Investment: Spending Now to Increase Your True Wealth Forever (Penguin, 2016). I’m also the author of The Power of Eye Contact (HarperCollins, 2010).
Currently, I am the lead copywriter at Influex.
I was born in San Francisco in 1977, grew up in Berkeley, and graduated from Brown in 1999 with a degree—that I’ve never used—in International Relations. I now live back in Berkeley.
I am an advocate and activist for the civil liberties, labor rights, human rights, and decriminalization of adult, consenting sex workers, and erotic professionals. My current work in this field is my book-in-progress: Sex, Cash & Privacy. I also write about sex work decriminalization for the Daily Beast.
Other Stuff I’ve Done:
- The most widely-read thing I’ve ever written is How I Overcame Bipolar II (and Saved My Own Life) on Forbes.com. (1M+ views)
- I wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, Will Dropouts Save America?
- I’ve spoken at Google twice, the first time about The Education of Millionaires, and the second time about The Last Safe Investment. I’ve also spoken at Dartmouth, at Awesomeness Fest, at the Thiel Fellows Retreat, at TEDxSF, at UBTech, at the Wanderlust festival, and at the Commonwealth Club of California, among other places.
- While I’m proud of all my talks, the best one I’ve given, in my opinion, is “Your Competitive Advantage is Not Information, It’s Transformation,” on the stage of Jazz @ Lincoln Center, for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
- I collaborated with Dr. Marc Gerstein on Flirting With Disaster: Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental (Union Square Press, 2008)
- Before my books, I was the creator of Eye Gazing Parties, a series of singles events based on eye contact, which was attracted press coverage from the New York Times, Elle, CBS News, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco magazine, Nerve.com, the Washington Post, and on Tim Ferriss’s blog.
Projects:
- I have begun writing and performing comedy. I debuted my first piece, “Freudian Kink” (2018) in Oakland. YouTube version here. (Warning: extremely raunchy!)
- I’m the archivist for independent singer-songwriter-pianist Adey Bell. Her first studio album is Silver Wheel. Listen and weep.
- I edit and maintain my father’s website Ellsberg.Net