Joel Nitzberg

1.

Grew up in a poor area of New York with a “dysfunctional” family; his parents separated four times when he was young.

2.

Says that emotional pain can be a positive thing; he thinks that experiencing hardships as a child helped him build resiliency.

3.

He majored in geology in college, then switched over to art and communications; he says cameras were his life.

4.

His first job was at a workshop for developmentally disabled adults; that inspired him to go back to school and get his Master of Social Work degree at Hunter College.

5.

Years later, after he’d tried many different things, he got into community education and the passion hit him like a “lightning bolt.”

6.

Now he works at NECAT, where he helps to train Boston’s inner-city community members in the culinary arts.

7.

He’s never stayed at the same job for more than seven years at a time, which he says has given him the opportunity to explore different paths.

8.

Says it’s a lifelong process to “figure one’s self out,” but he feels like he’s just about reached that point.