Good morning, friends!

They say the greatest lottery in life is where you were born. For my family, that lottery was much more literal.

In 1999, my parents and I were living in Bulgaria. My dad had picked me up from school, and as we approached our building, a neighbor called out to him that some of our mail was delivered to their apartment instead. She handed him a thick envelope, and his eyes widened until he opened it and yelled, “Yes!” approximately one hundred times.

We had won a green card to come to the United States. The U.S. green card lottery has been called “the unwinnable lottery” because only one quarter of 1% of applicants actually end up with the golden ticket. Without that absurd stroke of luck, my life would’ve turned out quite differently.

Last week marked 23 years since we set foot in America. For the first time, I reflected on just how much my parents left behind to start over here. They both worked multiple jobs with crazy hours and horrendous commutes.

In Bulgaria, my dad had been a 33-year-old with a master’s degree in chemical engineering and more than a decade of work experience. But in the first few months in the U.S, he was working part-time at a hotel and a fast-food restaurant.

I recently asked him, “Were you upset that it felt like you were starting over?”

And his answer surprised me. He said, “Not at all.”

He told me that he pictured two mountains — one small and one big. The small one represented his potential in Bulgaria. He had obtained a degree from one of the most prestigious and rigorous universities, and he was working on something tangentially related to what he studied in school. But he was close to the peak of that small mountain, and then that was it. There was nowhere else to go from there. His potential was capped.

But when we moved to the U.S, he says, he pictured himself jumping from the small mountain to an equivalent place on the bigger mountain. Unlike the small mountain, that place meant that he was near the bottom rather than near the top. There was a lot more climbing left to do. Rather than seeing it as a burden, he saw it as an opportunity.

Though I had my own struggles with moving to the U.S, it’s my parents who deserve the credit for climbing this steep mountain with a heavy backpack filled with worries and responsibilities. They re-built their lives in a foreign country without support because it really was an endeavor with no safety net. But the good news is: We made it … not to the top, but definitely far from the bottom.

The apartment complex where we first lived has been bulldozed and re-built. So has the shopping center. So has the bus stop. So has our life.

In the acknowledgements section of my book Hidden Genius, I write: “To my parents, who sacrificed everything to move to a foreign country in pursuit of a better life. Those early years in the United States were unspeakably difficult, but I’ll never forget the moments of joy and laughter along the way.”

Because that’s the thing I’ve realized in the last 23 years: It’s true that the early days were difficult. Unspeakably difficult. But during those days of uncertainty and chaos, there was always the certainty of … us. My best memories were formed during that time because of a well-timed joke, a language mix-up, or the first time I encountered a breaded, deep-fried, sausage on a stick you Americans call “a corn dog.”

I hope this serves as a reminder that no matter what mountain you’re climbing right now, there’s always the opportunity for a moment of levity in an otherwise painful situation. As Mark Twain said, “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”

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SUPERNODE CONFERENCE: I'll be speaking at Crossbeam's Supernode conference in San Diego June 5-7! The topic of the talk is: Taking Risks in Times of Uncertainty. If you’re interested in attending, check out more info here.

THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, premium members received The Profile Dossier, a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Hans Zimmer, the film composer using music to manipulate your emotions. Read it below.

The Profile

The Profile Dossier: Hans Zimmer, the Film Composer Using Music to Manipulate Your Emotions

You know the opening Zulu chant in The Lion King? Or how about the grand orchestra playing as Jack Sparrow sets sail in Pirates of the Caribbean? Or the ominous music in the background as The Joker asks, “Why so serious,” in The Dark Knight? Hans Zimmer is the legendary composer responsible for those iconic sounds. Zimmer has scored 150 films, including…

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4 days ago · 36 likes · 7 comments · Polina Pompliano

PROFILES.

— The future residents of Mars
— The man who cornered the classic car market
— The gambler who beat roulette
— Twitter’s mysterious figure revealing his identity
— The fast-fashion company creating an addiction [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The future residents of Mars: What would it be like to live on Mars for a year? Well, NASA is preparing for that reality. Four volunteers will be locked inside a 3D-printed box in Texas that would look just like one that NASA plans to build on Mars using Martian soil. These volunteers will grow food, exercise, and run experiments while NASA scientists keep a close eye on them to see how living on Mars affects the human body and mind. This is fascinating. (The Guardian)

“We are very interested in the stress response to a situation like that, particularly in that long-term isolation and confinement.”

The man who cornered the classic car market: Hagerty Inc was founded in 1984 by McKeel Hagerty’s parents, and it has long insured classic cars and provided market data on their fluctuating values. In the past two years, it’s become a conglomerate that owns every aspect of the collectible car universe, including auctions, brand experiences, data, events, logistics, media and storage. It’s acquired half a dozen major car events nationwide. It’s opened car storage clubs, purchased auto-related tech companies, and it runs an online classifieds section for 753,000 paying members. Here’s how McKeel Hagerty has cornered the classic car market. (Bloomberg; reply to this email if you need access to this article)

“If we just created more of a car club that was about the members, we’d never have to talk about insurance ever again.”

The gambler who beat roulette: Niko Tosa, a Croatian with rimless glasses, had visited the Ritz half a dozen times over the previous two weeks, astounding staff with his knack for roulette and walking away with several thousand pounds each time. A manager would later say in a written statement that Tosa was the most successful player he’d witnessed in 25 years on the job. No one had any idea how Tosa did it. The casino inspected a wheel he’d played at for signs of tampering and found none. For decades, casinos scoffed as mathematicians and physicists devised elaborate systems to take down the house. Here’s how Tosa’s strategy forever changed the game. (Bloomberg; reply to this email if you need access to this article)

“It’s like an athlete. “At some point all this stuff comes together. You look at the wheel. You just know.”

Twitter’s mysterious figure revealing his identity: Paul Dochney is the man behind the popular Twitter account Dril. With 1.7 million highly engaged followers, Dril is one of the more powerful Twitter users and, by default, one of the more powerful figures on the internet. How did he get so popular? “I just post whatever bullshit I’m thinking,” Dochney he says. “I kind of have to get into, like, the writing mood. But there’s no ritual or anything. Usually when I’m driving or I’m in the shower, I’ll come up with some sort of idea.”

“There’s nobody quite like him, and it perfectly encapsulates that Twitter dialogue.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The fast-fashion company creating an addiction: In April, the secretive Chinese company Shein reportedly raised $1 billion to $2 billion in private funding. The company was valued at $100 billion—higher than the combined worth of fast-fashion titans H&M and Zara, and higher than that of any private company in the world besides SpaceX and Bytedance (the owner of TikTok). The company claims the largest slice—28%—of the US fast-fashion market. It sells clothing to the tune of $2.50 and $4.50. You can purchase 14 items for a total of $80. Here’s how Shein became a fast-fashion juggernaut by appealing to budget-conscious Gen-Zers. (WIRED)

“[Female workers] are the ones who have to be flexible and work all night so the rest of us can press a button and have a dress delivered to our door for $10.”

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