Sam Shapiro

I've spent the last three years working in low-income charter schools, helping to improve public education in New Orleans as both a teacher and an administrator. After successfully piloting a class of 4th graders through the French Quarter during Mardi Gras, teaching them to read seemed simple.

Growing up, my idol was Michael Jordan. While my jump shot was never very good, that didn’t stop me from collecting every Jordan sneaker I could get my hands on. I parlayed this into my first entreprenurial experience in high school, when I started a business buying and selling rare Jordans on eBay.

Originally from Seattle, I spent my college years at the University of Iowa, studying creative writing. While there, I ran a blog about the intersection of hip-hop and the streetwear industry, an outgrowth of my own interest in both music and men's fashion.

Previous accomplishments include winning a bronze medal in the 1997 Snoqualmie Pass Powder Pigs Ski Race, for which I earned the nickname "Flying Sausage" (I was big-boned), as well as still holding the title of the (statistically) worst high school wrestler in Washington State history. I never won a match, scored a point, or made it out of the first round. But, my teammates voted me captain, probably because they were amazed that I kept showing up for practice.

Currently, I'm an amateur cook, father to the world's best pitbull (Rex!), and an unabashed proponent of Taco Tuesday.