Zach’s core purpose is to show people there is a better way to heal, and a better way to live. After eleven years and four combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine/ Marine Raider, Zach decided it was time to come back home. He separated from the military in 2012 and attended MIT as a Sloan Fellow for Innovation and Global Leadership. Following graduation, Zach stayed on at MIT as a research assistant in support of a multi-year, DoD-funded project Military Psychological Health Enterprise: Post-Traumatic Stress Innovations (PTSI). Shortly thereafter, Zach entered the private sector where he served as Managing Director of a New York-based business intelligence/strategy consulting firm and later as the COO for an early-stage technology consultancy based in Seattle. Then his life took a different trajectory.
Book knowledge did little to prepare Zach for what would later be diagnosed as delayed-onset PTSD. All he knew is that his world grew smaller and smaller until all that was left was a shell of a man who was unable to think or speak clearly, who was unable to connect with others, and who became increasingly afraid to leave his apartment. He turned to drugs and was rapidly descending on the addiction train when a phone call from a loved one bought him enough sanity to pack a bag, catch a flight out of NYC, and begin the long road of recovery.
Almost a year into that journey, following the successful completion of multiple inpatient treatment programs for PTSD and substance use disorder (both within and outside of the VA system) and countless hours of group therapy and counseling, something was still broken. A fortunate encounter with a fellow Raider put Zach on a trail that led him to Jesse and Heroic Hearts Project. He attended an HHP-sponsored Ayahuasca retreat in Peru in January 2020 and was blessed with the healing he had unsuccessfully sought for years within the Veterans Healthcare System.
“Heroic Hearts Project gave me access to a medicine that didn’t just save my life, it gifted me a better one. I know that it can do the same for others, and I am dedicated to helping those who were struggling as I was to find their way down this healing path.”