… Well what about me do you want to know?
I’m a native of Southern California but have spent significant time living overseas. I was born the son of a Filipino pastor and Italian-American mother working as international Christian missionaries in the Netherlands, so much of my early youth was spent living in Europe and traveling to distant countries.
When my parents divorced during my pre-teen years, I stayed close to my mother’s side of the family, attending middle school and high school in Los Angeles county before getting accepted to UCLA to study International Relations and Spanish. During my undergrad career I also studied international business and marketing for a semester in Seville, Spain and spent a summer in Washington, DC pursuing an initial interest in Law.
After deciding against a Legal career, I switched focus to Business and after graduation secured an Associate Consultant position in the Los Angeles office of Bain & Company, a top-tier Management Consulting firm. For the last three and a half years I’ve been working as a Bain Consultant, providing my services to large corporate clients in various industries across the country. During this time, I also took a short leave to pursue an externship at a top Software start-up in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Globant homepage) through the Endeavor Corporate Fellowship program.
Currently I’m wrapping up a ~7 month trip through Asia and Africa to learn about/work in internationally-focused social enterprises and tech start-ups before I head to business school in the fall. During my trip I’ve partnered with Virtual Mobile Technologies in Cape Town, The Ayllu Initiative, and most recently the Solar Energy Foundation Philippines based in Manila.
Personally, I love to travel (if that’s not evident already), take pictures, read, write, play basketball, wakeboard, snowboard and spend plenty time with family and friends.

NextBillion
RisingPyramid.org
This is awesome, Josiah! Good luck on all of your travels- you’re going to have an amazing time.
Great son. I love it. Your time with Omy at OTI Philippines, should be very beneficial for you both!
Hi Josiah
I noticed your comment on my blog. Your project seems very interesting indeed. I wish you all the best. Don’t forget to take plenty of videos and record the interviews with the entrepreneurs that you are going to meet.
You can also think of writing a book summing up this experience once you get back.
Let’s stay in touch. Who knows maybe we shall drink a Tiger beer somewhere in Thailand over a business plan for some venture …
Cheers,
Alex
Hey Josiah, great idea for a blog. Wonder what you’ll find in the Philippines when you explore business opportunities there.
-Your cousin
Hi Josiah!
I’m an editor/Staff Writer on NextBillion and I noticed on your latest comment that you’re in South Africa…I’ll be in Cape Town in about a month, so I’d love to connect and learn about your work if you’re still there! E-mail me: achwaln@umich.edu
Best,
Nilima
I finally read your homepage. Great job!