I'd like to preface my answers by saying this was a really fun activity for me; and I'm really glad we got asked these kinds of questions and were given some space to respond thoughtfully!
My primary work at this stage in life is to learn and experiment. As a current architecture student (Master of Architecture candidate at UCLA '27, recent BA and BS graduate of Yale University '23), I'm likely years away from being able to develop my own projects. For the next three years, I'm going to continue learning all I can about initiating regenerative processes through the ways we conceptualize, finance, design, construct, occupy, and deconstruct the places we inhabit. My ultimate goal, as of now, is to join/start an organization that designs and develops regenerative places with a net-positive, systems-first approach like those used in the development of projects like Playa Viva. Because I'm still some time away from being able to tackle projects like that, I must learn all I can about regenerative projects and what is needed to develop them in ways that truly enhance the ability of living beings to co-evolve and express biodiversity, complexity, creativity, and health for dynamic systems-wide stability.

My role within this cohort is to learn, and hopefully contribute to the quality of the group experience by sharing my perspective, listening to others, and bringing genuine passion to the course material. Although I hope/plan to design and develop regenerative places and systems in my career, my current professional role remains as a student continuing to learn as much as I can. More broadly, my role on the planet is to cultivate as much love, joy, and health as possible for myself and all other living beings.

I hope that this course, my masters education, and my personal exploration will provide the skills and understanding necessary to design and develop regenerative projects like Playa Viva. Beyond that, I hope this learning experience helps me further grow into the mindful, caring, competent designer and person that I hope/plan to be now and in the future.

The most important areas of my personal growth include becoming more mindful, compassionate, and fearless. As a practicing Buddhist (and as someone who did one of their Bachelors in Cognitive Science) I've experienced first hand how the power of our minds shapes our lives. I continually work towards making the most of my mind (paying mindful attention, giving my time generously, reducing conditioned fear, etc), though of course I still have so much to learn and develop. Fortunately, if one wants to do as much good as possible both within their minds and out in the world, reshaping the ways we design, develop, occupy, adapt, and deconstruct the spaces we inhabit is an enormously powerful place to start. It's no hidden truth that we are mostly social beings who want better relationships in a better world—the wonderful paradox is that as we improve the minds and lives of others, we improve our own minds and lives. I'm hoping this course teaches me more about design that puts people, ecologies, and systems-thinking first—which are characteristics I plan to practice throughout my career as an architect.

The next arenas for my professional growth will likely revolve around hands-on roles within organizations designing and developing regenerative systems. I've spent much of my education so far learning through classes and courses like the Living Future Institute's Living Future Accreditation—as well as continuing that trend through this course. I've also had some professional experience in the realms of home construction and development finance. In order to design and develop the regenerative projects that I plan to, I must bridge these more formal curriculums with my practical professional experiences. I believe the next step for my professional growth is for me to work directly with/for a firm that designs and develops the kinds of regenerative places that I'm most passionate about. I'm not yet certain what this pursuit will look like, and I am very open to seeing where it takes me. I am also hoping to gain a better understanding of what opportunities are out there directly through this course!

I realize this will likely sound obvious and redundant, but to get where I am I've invested most in my education. Looking back, I studied and worked out exceptionally hard in high school; and I was given the opportunity to play lacrosse at Yale. At Yale, when my teammates took easy classes and took summers off, I took masters courses in green building and spent my summers working construction jobs to learn about the building process. When I started applying to master's programs, I quit my job and focused solely on my applications—and I was subsequently admitted with scholarship to every one of my top architecture schools. Now that I have an understanding of my desire to design and develop regenerative systems, the Regenerative Practitioner series is the exciting next step of investing in my education. Even though my main focus will evolve at some point in the near future from learner into practitioner and teacher, I don't think I'll ever stop investing in my education.

When I think of which fields of learning are most important in my life, I think of our minds, and the ecological systems our lives exist within. Regarding the mind, Sam Harris has had the most profound impact on my thinking. Through various media like his writings, podcasts, courses, and now his app, he uses thorough-logic and sound reason (the closest thing humans can currently find to common ground) to advocate for and teach how the contemporary person can live an examined life and cultivate loving-kindness for themselves and others. Also, one of Sam's mentors and a father-figure in Western Buddhism, Joseph Goldstein, is a wonderful and insightful teacher who is worth mentioning. Regarding ecology, the most important thinkers in my life have been Pamela Mang, Ben Haggard, Bill Reed, and the entire Regenesis Group. I had the pleasure of hearing Bill Reed give a guest lecture in a green building course on regenerative systems design that completely changed the way I think about human impact on earth. Since then I've read, marked up, and reread the Regenesis Group's book Regenerative Development and Design—as well as reading suggestions Bill gave me like Fritjof Capra's The Web of Life.

This is a great question and it makes me laugh, I would love to try! Based on the evidence so far presented in my life, I believe that life on Earth exists as an amazing event caused by the energy and matter of the universe flowing and expanding in just the right recipe. I would guess that life's existence is coincidental, though I think our understanding is limited and that there could possibly be an explanation like divine intervention. However, no matter how strange and illusory the universe might be, the entire character of our existence seems to be within this experience of each of us "being" something—this is the state of our minds and thus our world. I believe our minds are all we truly have. No matter where else or how deeply I've looked, all I've ever found is this space of awareness—and I believe we are all in the same boat.
Thankfully, thinkers like Darwin and Yuval Noah Harari would suggest that even our minds experienced in isolation evolved for social generosity and cooperation. The 14th Dalai Lama once said, "even the wise, selfish man serves others." Many of us feel this pull towards kindness inherently, but even the most selfish individual will likely find that improving the minds and lives of others is a sustainable road to their own long-term happiness and well-being. I believe this is the role of humans: to thoughtfully guide living-systems in ways that improve other lives as much as possible—and thus our own. As the building sector is one of the largest contributors to our current climate crisis, and people spend over 90% of their lives in the built environment, regenerating the ways in which we develop space is an enormously powerful way to contribute positively to life in general. This realization, plus my own passion for the built environment, is what led me to my role and this course. Beyond our own development of regenerative places, I believe for ourselves and others we must convince the groups guiding our leading institutions to pursue regenerative systems-wide strategies that revamp people's relationship to nature and enable them to become co-evolving participants within dynamically stable economic and ecological systems. This is the role I believe humans should play for the future health, resilience, and prosperity of our minds, our lives, and life more broadly.