Alex’s Story: ‘Why I Coach’
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of design, business, and personal growth.
After graduating from RISD, I co-founded RBW — a lighting brand that grew from a tiny studio with two friends into a globally recognized company. Over 17 years, I learned what it takes to build something enduring: creative vision, persistence, trust, and a lot of trial and error.
It was a privilege and an incredible journey — full of lessons about leadership, partnership, and staying creative inside a growing business. But it also taught me how easy it is for success to crowd out the very things that make life rich: curiosity, family, personal wellness, and room to breathe.
When I eventually stepped away, I wanted to reimagine what “thriving” really means — not just professionally, but personally. That reflection became the foundation for my work today.
Now I help other creative entrepreneurs do the same — design businesses and lives that reflect who they truly are. My coaching blends strategy and empathy, structure and creativity, grounded in real-world experience from building, leading, and evolving a creative company.
In 2024 I also founded StüdiGroup — a series of design-focused experiences and gatherings that bring Hudson Valley-based creative people together for inspiration, conversation, and adventure. It’s the community side of the same mission: helping designers and founders stay connected to what fuels their best work.
I live in the Hudson Valley with my wife and two young kids, surrounded by nature and a community of artists, architects, and thinkers who continue to inspire me every day.
Experience and Expertise
As a founding partner of RBW, I helped grow a design-led lighting company from a small NYC studio into an internationally recognized brand known for its innovation, culture and quality craftsmanship. Over seventeen years, I worked across nearly every facet of the business — from sales, marketing, and business development to product strategy, leadership, and long-term planning — learning what it takes to turn creative vision into sustainable success.
RBW became a Certified B Corporation and earned recognition for both its creative and cultural leadership, including honors such as Wallpaper*’s Guide to Creative America: 300 Names to Know Now, Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies, Great Place to Work, and a six-time Cooper Hewitt National Design Award nominee. I was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for my role in building the company’s growth and impact.
The work took me around the world — from factories in China to design weeks in Bulgaria and beyond — and even into collaboration with IKEA’s PS Collection. Those experiences built an international network of designers, makers, and thinkers that continues to inform my work today.
Through this journey, I developed deep expertise in integrated business models that connect design, manufacturing, and client experience; in purpose-driven leadership and culture-building; and in serving world-class clients across architecture, interiors, and hospitality — including Google, Starbucks, Marriott, Rivian and many others.
As my career evolved, I became increasingly interested in the impact side of business — how companies can strengthen the communities and people around them. At RBW, I helped establish a philanthropic fund that supported local nonprofits and launched the RBW Endowed Scholarship at RISD, created for students who are the first in their families to attend college. This commitment to creative opportunity and community engagement has continued to shape my work. In 2024, I founded StüdiGroup and co-created Neuland, extending that spirit into projects that bring people together through design, conversation, and shared purpose.
As I set out on this exciting new chapter of my career, putting this wealth of experience to work for you and your creative business is what lights me up! I can’t wait to work with you.