We are Soul Mates. That is our term we think fits best, and indeed no other seems to fit at all! From literally the first days, we could not even contemplate the terms girlfriend or boyfriend because they seemed so inadequate. We felt like we leap-frogged right to a state of inner marriage with impossible speed and certainty. That certainty was key – neither of us has even been so sure of anything in our lives! All the while, we knew we were taking a quantum leap into an entirely new, shared life.

This didn't feel like a decision. This felt like recognition. Sudden. Astounding. More beautiful than anything we had ever dared to imagine – and we are both optimists. We have since then spent each day ascending further in love, wrapping into and through each other. We have both the rigid certainty and worry-free abandon of believing it will only grow stronger.

Beginning with our hearts scrubbed impeccably clean for each other, we launched into an exciting unknown, suddenly sprung open to the concept of perpetuity. Forever quickly became our new favorite word. We feel SOOO lucky that it is each other who is our life partner, whom we get to marry and forever have as an equal participant in love, friendship, business, travel, family, and every learning experience. It is humbling to know how completely we underestimated the magic the Universe is capable of before we discovered what marriage could be.

We hope that you, our beloved family and friends, will be happy for us, and join in support of our future. We are sharing the intimate recesses of our hearts, both to open ourselves to you, and to invite you to support and guard us in our path through life's seasons.

Common Ground

The paradigm shift we have gone through in the last year is as if we were twin souls separated before birth, astounded by the sheer joy of having found the other half of our hearts. Although we are floating in an ocean of pure bliss, we are also grounded by a shared a vision of a life lived in many countries, woven together with deep friendships, hard work, and loving family.

Aside from being both culturally and spiritually opening minded, we also share a drive to live life to the fullest, and are deeply committed to our work. In addition, we are committed to ‘making ourselves deserve’ the great fortune of having discovered such a profound love. We are involved in several ventures that we hope will contribute positively to the world, and ask the Universe’s help in making ourselves worthy of such joy.

We have savored and relished every moment since we met. We've never even taken the time to watch a movie, show, or any TV together! It has been an amazing launch and one we are happy for the chance to share. We are hoping to use this site to reach out and connect with you all, and forge virtual introductions where needed: Some of you know us both well, but many may know one or the other of us much better. We take the opportunity below to introduce you, our family and friends, to the other half of our hearts!

Nicole    (written by Ned)

Nicole identifies herself as an internationalist and I can tell you she certainly is. She absolutely loves learning about other cultures, and has made it her life’s work to be one of the threads that is weaving the global community into a smaller, more united place. Her work takes her to the forefront of the era of globalization, which thrills her.

Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Nicole cultivated a strong thirst for adventure at a young age. She began traveling internationally while in college, and had been in more than 50 countries by the age of 22. Her travels led her to live among the Mam Indians in Guatemala, study language in Spain, and work in the Caribbean. Her favorite type of travel is fully-immersive; she has a tendency to fling herself deeply (perhaps sometimes dangerously) into local cultures. Ask her to tell you stories of witnessing sudden outbreak of civil unrest, or deep-seated cultural schisms.

I would say Nicole is in love with the diverse beauty of humanity, and at the same time has a strikingly practical mind. In graduate school, she had two missions: 1) to learn more about the barriers that keep people from fully empathizing across languages, religions, and cultures and 2) to pick up a skill set to help people more easily cross those boundaries. Nicole is convinced that well-governed businesses offer the best and most efficient way of making fundamental changes in our fast-changing world. Today she is a director with a fast-growing international business consulting firm that helps companies expand internationally.

Nicole has a meditative spirit underlying her high-octane social self and results-oriented business persona, and her friends all identify her as a very kind, calming person. She had a large yoga practice when she lived in the Caribbean, adored communing with the millennium-old trees in Muir Woods in grad school, and has a strong need to quiet her mind along the beach when possible.

She also loves to read – poetry and novels – and becomes a deep fan of her favorite authors and poets. She loves getting into someone else's mind those of the characters and of the authors. She is often reminded of poems she has learned by situations in life, and shares them at random with those who are near. One thing she has basically never done before is share her own poetry with anyone. Having attained that rare privilege, I can vouch strongly that her poetry is magnificent!

Nicole is very close with her parents, Dan and Rae, and her sister, Robyn. Coley, as they call her, has always been at once an integral part of her family (keeping very much in touch and aware of everything going on in their lives), and at the same time the unpredictable and free-spirited character who is usually off somewhere else in the world. It is clear they love and respect her profoundly. Nicole’s family has been extremely embracing of me and of Us as a couple. What a delight to be part of such a wonderful, harmonious family! You can feel the deepest conviction i will always honor and love your precious Nicole!

Nedim    (written by Nicole)
For more on Ned's full name and why i like to use it, please see here.

Nedim is an absolutely magnificent person with a boundless spirit, a brilliant intellect, and a resounding love of life. His tendency to live life to the fullest and fascination with humanity at many levels manifest in everything he does, from his work to his many projects to the lifelong friendships he builds with people around the world. I knew from the moment I got to know him that we would never have a dull moment.

Born in Massachusetts, Nedim grew up steeped in the academic world of Boston. His father, an absolutely delightful man with prodigious accomplishments and infinite time for his family, instilled in Nedim the love of learning, innovation, and humanity. His parents were professors, and entrepreneurs, who worked hard to raise three boys, and make a mark on the world. He was as exuberant and about his projects and pursuits all through childhood as he is now, or even more, according to his lifelong friends!

Nedim went to Williams College, in a small, beautiful village tucked among the Berkshire Mountains. There, he began down the path of becoming a neuroscientist, developed his love of international people, places, and things. While at Williams, Ned was on the crew team; the guys from the crew team are still among his best friends today – and you will meet some of them at the wedding. He also studied for a year at Oxford, and relished his favorite nights of getting locked in a library there, where he could wander among books (some from the 1500s) for hours and hours. Also, he continued his rowing on their team and competed at Henley.

After college, Ned worked for two years in a fast growing multinational software consulting firm. Although based in London, he also spent time in Ireland, Spain, Turkey, and elsewhere; and escaped to travel the globe whenever he could. After a few years, Ned returned to his true love; academia, where he could fuel his restless mind and focus on becoming a scientist. He did his Master’s degree at MIT, and PhD at Harvard. His work at Harvard won him the Herrnstein prize for the best PhD dissertation of the year across all departments at Harvard. It was his decision to do a post-doctoral fellowship in San Diego that brought him to me, and for that I am infinitely grateful!

As a neuroscientist, Nedim’s work is focused on discovering more about the core essence of the human experience, through scientific studies of the human brain and mind. He is at the forefront of discovering how our brains work, particularly how they allow us to speak; and yet he also finds time for entrepreneurship, deep friendships, and a tremendous amount of community involvement and volunteer work. I often laugh in wonder at how much Nedim manages to cram into one life! He refuses to sleep, punishing himself with strings of all-nighters, because he cannot bear to miss a minute when he could be contributing to the world, and celebrating life with family and friends. Despite taking on far more projects than any mortal ever should, Nedim never fails to amaze me with the perfection, detail and depth to which he does everything – so far beyond anyone’s expectations.

One of Nedim’s most lovable qualities is the fun and love he puts into his friendships. Always the life of the party, Nedim will often be overheard speaking in multiple languages, if only to extend a warm welcome or familiar word to a fellow traveler from another part of the globe. He absolutely loves people, and has even made many lifelong friends on the plane (seriously ... you’ll meet them at the wedding.) While super high- energy, and fun, Nedim also has a tremendous depth of spirit. He is one of the deepest and most loving people I have ever encountered.

Some of our friends might wonder: why do I can Ned by his full name, Nedim? The truth is that I love it, and believe it fits him perfectly. The original Nedim was a poet of the Tulip Era in the Ottoman Empire, who was well-loved for his free-spirited love of life.