Good morning, friends!

Yesterday was the 20-year-anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. I won't comment on our country's disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan since The Profile isn't a newsletter that pontificates on foreign affairs.

But I will say this: It's been disappointing to see how the events of the last month have overshadowed the important individual stories and sacrifices of the people who have been involved in the conflict for the last two decades.

One such person is Noah Galloway, a man whose story continues to affect me to this day.

Galloway was a college student in Birmingham, Ala, in 2001. After watching the Twin Towers collapse, he went on a run to clear his mind. The next day, he dropped out of school and enlisted in the military at just 21 years old. Galloway's first deployment was during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

He served one deployment, and then he re-enlisted.

Three months into his second deployment in Iraq, Galloway was driving a Humvee when the vehicle ran over a tripwire that detonated a roadside bomb large enough to throw the entire armored vehicle through the air and into a canal adjacent to the road.

"Thankfully, we landed wheels down in the water," Galloway told The Profile. "They said the water was up to my chest, huge hole in my jaw, arm was taken off immediately."

Soon, he would discover all that he had lost. The roadside bomb had taken his left arm, left leg, and military career.

Suddenly, Galloway was back in his home in Alabama with a new label: wounded veteran. The physical injuries were obvious, but it was the mental ones that haunted him. He fell into a deep depression and began drinking heavily.

"I didn't realize how bad my depression was until I came out of it," Galloway says. "It was such a bad place I was in."

After his marriage fell apart, Galloway was arrested for a DUI and spent 10 days in jail. He knew he had to do better, not only for himself but for his kids. So he worked on building mental resilience while strengthening his body until he dug himself out of the powerful grip of depression.

He went on to run ultra-races, marathons, and Tough Mudders. He appeared on the cover of Men's Health magazine and placed third on the TV show, "Dancing with the Stars." And still — he recognizes those accomplishments don't define him. They were just chapters in his life journey.

Galloway embodies everything The Profile stands for. It's about shedding the labels society has slapped on you and re-claiming the power to re-invent yourself — no matter your age, your current circumstance, or your past traumas.

I hope that on this somber weekend, you take time to learn the names and the stories of the people who risked so much, gave so much, and lost so much in an effort to be of service to their country.

Read the full article below:

The Profile

Noah Galloway on Combating Depression, Building Mental Resilience, and Starting Over

On Sept. 11, 2001, Noah Galloway was a college student in Birmingham, Alabama. After watching the Twin Towers collapse, he went on a run to clear his mind. The next day, he dropped out of school and enlisted in the military at just 21 years old. Galloway's first deployment was during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003…

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9 months ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Polina Pompliano

THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, premium members received The Profile Dossier, a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Steve Kerr, the player-turned-coach who used basketball to cope with tragedy. Become a premium member, and read it below.

The Profile

The Dossier: Steve Kerr, the Player-Turned-Coach Who Used Basketball to Cope With Tragedy

Steve Kerr was a freshman in his Arizona University dorm room when he received the phone call that would change his life. A family friend was calling in the middle of the night to tell Kerr that his father had been killed. His dad, Malcolm Kerr, had been the president of the American University in Beirut when he became the victim of a terrorist attack. H……

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4 days ago · 3 likes · Polina Pompliano

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PROFILES.

— The North Tower restaurateur who survived 9/11 [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— America's infamous White House intern
— The fearless war correspondent
— Kobe Bryant's oldest daughter
— The genius who made Pixar a reality
— The library e-book empire
— The startup that wants you to live forever

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The North Tower restaurateur who survived 9/11: Glenn Vogt was the general manager of Windows on the World, the restaurant located atop the North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001. That morning, he watched incredulously as people waved white table linens from broken windows. He could tell, based on their location, that the people waving them were his employees. “I’m floating through Lower Manhattan like a ghost,” he remembers. “It was so loud, it was actually quiet.” He survived that day, but 79 of his employees did not — and Vogt is still searching for permission to move on. This is a must-read. (The Atlantic)

“Life takes these crazy twists and turns. And when a terrible thing happens—when a tragedy hits—you can feel like it’s the end of your story. But it’s not."

America's infamous White House intern: Monica Lewinsky's name has become synonymous with one of the most enduring political scandals of our time. Her relationship with Bill Clinton when he was president and she was a 22-year-old intern turned her identity from aspiring forensic psychologist to someone known as "that woman." Now, as a producer on the new FX series “Impeachment,” she hopes to reframe her story and boost her burgeoning Hollywood career. But that doesn’t mean the experience has been easy. (The New York Times)

"In order to move forward, I have to take risks. I have to try things. I have to continue to define who I am.”

The fearless war correspondent: Clarissa Ward, CNN's chief international correspondent, has become one of the most visible reporters during the withdrawal of U.S. troops. She delivered her accounts, often with gunfire ringing in the background, on what it was like in Kabul in the often chaotic final days of America’s longest war. Her job has included assignments in other conflict zones, including in Baghdad and Aleppo, Syria, often putting her in danger. Here's why she continues to tell the human stories from the front lines of war. (The New York Times)

“It’s not my job to say whether it has been handled well or not. It’s my job to give a voice to those people and say this is how they feel.”

Kobe Bryant's oldest daughter: Natalia Bryant's dad Kobe was a basketball legend. He died tragically in a helicopter accident along with her sister Gigi in January 2020. Since that day, many people have seen Natalia's face, but few have ever heard her voice. At 18 years old, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant's eldest daughter is on a healing journey to discover herself and keep her father's memory alive. (Teen Vogue)

“I love talking about my dad. It's bittersweet, but I enjoy talking about him more than it's sad for me.”

The genius who made Pixar a reality: Alvy Ray Smith is the boisterous Pixar co-founder who left the company just as it began making actual films, but every frame of those films owes something to Smith. He helped unleash the breakthroughs that allowed for movies to be generated entirely by code and algorithms. And in his work before and after Pixar, he made immense contributions to the first digital paint software, coding up features that transformed our ability to manipulate images. Meet the unique figure who bridged the eras of primitive line graphics and immersive virtual worlds. (WIRED)

“Everything that you currently use in Photoshop right now basically came from Alvy.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The library e-book empire: Here's a fun fact: Increasingly, books are something that libraries do not own but borrow from the corporations that do. OverDrive is the company behind the popular app Libby, which “lets you log in to your local library to access ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines, all for the reasonable price of free.” The vast majority of OverDrive’s earnings come from markups on the digital content that it licenses to libraries and schools, which is to say that these earnings come largely from American taxes. As libraries and schools have transitioned to e-books, the company has skyrocketed in value. This is a fascinating story about the surprisingly big business of library e-books. (The New Yorker)

"We have moved away from owning to accessing,”

The startup that wants you to live forever: Altos Labs is pursuing biological reprogramming technology, a way to rejuvenate cells in the lab that some scientists think could be extended to revitalize entire animal bodies, ultimately prolonging human life. The new company, which has already raised at least $270 million from deep-pocketed investors, is recruiting a large cadre of university scientists with lavish salaries and the promise that they can pursue unfettered blue-sky research on how cells age and how to reverse that process. (MIT Technology Review)

“You can take a cell from an 80-year old and, in vitro, reverse the age by 40 years. There is no other technology that can do that."

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. If you would like to get full access to all of the recommendations, including today’s audio and video sections, sign up below.

AUDIO TO HEAR.

Kenneth Feinberg on becoming a tragedy expert: In this podcast episode, Kenneth Feinberg details the complexities of his job as a mediator in nearly all of America's crises. In the days after September 11th, he made a promise to the public: “My door is open to any 9/11 survivor who wants to meet with me in private.” He’ll never forget his very first meeting, which is bound to give you goosebumps. “You think you’re ready for anything,” he says. “And you’re not.” I highly recommend listening to this one. (Link available to premium members.)

Kathryn Paige Harden on the importance of genetics: Kathryn Paige Harden works in the field of behavior genetics, which investigates the influence of genes on character traits (neuroticism, agreeableness) and life outcomes (educational attainment, income, criminality). In this podcast episode, she goes into the nuance of the controversy over group differences in traits like intelligence and ongoing research in behavioral genetics. (Link available to premium members.)

James Dyson on inventing the future: James Dyson is a serial inventor and the founder and chairman of Dyson. In college, he studied the classics — Latin Greek, ancient history, and art. It led him to art school, which led him to study design which led him to study architecture. He was working on designing a building, and it helped him meet the chairman of an engineering company. "That's what really turned me into an amateur engineer," he says. "I have to stress that I am an amateur engineer, I’m not a trained engineer. And I hope I think like an engineer." In this podcast, he explains why an engineering mindset can help cultivate our curiosity and trigger our sense of wonder. (Link available to premium members.)

VIDEOS TO SEE.

Clarissa Ward on the education of a journalist: CNN's international correspondent Clarissa Ward began her journalism career working on the overnight assignment desk at Fox News. She would get to work at midnight and leave at 9 a.m. "It's baptism by fire," she says. "It's a great place to begin that education. It's not something that happens overnight." Here's how she took the role that no one wanted — her first international assignment in Baghdad in 2005 — and why it fueled her desire to report from the front lines. (Link available to premium members.)

Jim O'Shaughnessy on cultivating a life of curiosity: Jim O’Shaughnessy is a Wall Street legend and the founder, chairman, and chief investment officer of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, which has $6.2 billion in assets under management. In this conversation, he talks about why cultivating a "beginner's mind" is the antidote to getting stuck in rigid belief systems. (Link available to premium members.)