Enter the Sohail
Posted by Sohail on December 10, 2008, 11:15 am
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
I’m not the biggest fan of starting off a written piece with a quote but the one above is so fitting I can’t help but lead with it. My name is Sohail Shahrasebi. I am 26 years old and I am about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. For the past 8 years I’ve worked my way through college and Wall Street. As a student at NYU, I lived blocks away from ground zero during the events of 9/11 and I worked as an intern at UBS on the Mortgage Backed Securities/Structured Products desk when those products were all the rage and banks and investors couldn’t gorge on enough of them. After graduating, I was an investment banking analyst and later a private equity associate, working during one of the frothiest M&A and credit bubbles in the world’s history.
While those experiences were amazing and eye opening, I’ve always felt there was a much bigger world out there that I was missing out on. Sure I’ve been to Europe, Asia and the Middle East - but I was never really there. I was always shuttling between my hotel room to get to a boardroom, dataroom or classroom. I was always in a room, sheltered from the people, culture and economies of the regions I was visiting. Well that’s about to change!
For the next half year I’m going to be out there in the big wide world, brushing off all the filter’s I have had in place for the past 8 years and learning from the world - Ansel Adams style. I’ll be updating this blog sporadically with posts, pictures and video.
I was going to post the details of my trip on this blog too, but the dictator of this blog Andy, thought it might be too long so I’ll probably have to post another blog with those details.
As this is my first post I want to thank Red Ledge for sponsoring my gear and trip. If it weren’t for the Company’s support I’m not sure I’d be able to take this step. Wish me luck!
