David is the CEO and Founder of Maya and a Director at Unlimited Sciences. Previously, David was Co-founder & CPO at Baker Technologies, which he exited after achieving a valuation of $250MM. David graduated summa cum laude in Architecture from Cambridge University and built a nonprofit to help Kenyan children access schooling. Brought up in Papua New Guinea, Portugal and Scotland, he began his career in New York with Daniel Libeskind, working on the Ground Zero masterplan. He has a decade of experience designing consumer software and his interests are behavioral data, digital art, user experience design, oil painting, and mindfulness.

Why are you passionate about psychedelic-assisted healing?
‍Having experienced a temporary but extreme glimpse of what it might be like to have a psychotic break, I became committed to helping people enduring those symptoms every day. There is mounting evidence behind the power of psychedelics as a medium that could shift the paradigm of mental healthcare and I believe we can manifest this reality within my lifetime.

What do you believe is your gift to the universe?
‍I’m endlessly curious and I’ve learned to avoid any conviction that what I believe is correct and final. I think this helps me cultivate a level of compassion and openness in who I am and what I do. 

Anything else interesting you’d like to share?
I became a father this year and have noticed a great similarity between holding a crying baby and holding space for someone in a challenging psychedelic journey. In both cases, the other person is having their experience of trauma, nervous system activation, aloneness, or suffering. I notice that in those moments it’s my responsibility to keep my own experience separate, rather than to take on their energy. When I do, they swiftly become grounded again. But when I forget to, they take on my energy and can be instantly exasperated further. I’m very grateful for my training with Zendo and the positive impact it’s had on my ability to stay centered in fatherhood.