Mark is a fourth-generation entrepreneur who has run a distribution business, turned around a struggling non-profit magazine, and worked as a paramedic in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The founder of Heart of Business in 2001, Mark is the author of (Wildhouse Press), Heart-Centered Business: Healing from toxic business culture so your small business can thrive.
A designated Master Teacher (“muqaddam murrabi“) within the Shaddhilliyya Sufi lineage, he has received his Masters of Divinity with a speciality in Ministry and Sufi Studies.
As a coach, consultant, mentor and spiritual healer, he has worked with over 4000 businesses since 1999, facilitating thousands of individual sessions with entrepreneurs and has led hundreds of classes, seminars, groups and retreats.
He lives in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, with his wife Holly, twin sons Sam and David, their orange tabby Ori, and their 150 lb husky-malamute-shepherd Rocky, and boxer-mix Sasha.
Overwhelmed at the thought of working as hard as my parents did, and unable to see past the painful way the corporate world did business, I turned to the much more restful efforts of non-stop, underpaid and never-fulfilled political activism, including turning around a struggling non-profit magazine (Anything That Moves, an activist publication on bisexuality that had been published by the Bay Area Bisexual Network) all while working as a paramedic in the San Francisco Bay Area. And running a health products distribution business.
Sigh.
Exhausted, burnt-out on anger-based activism, and depleted from working in the trauma and crisis of emergency services, I began to help a few friends who were holistic healers put their brochures together.I discovered, as my friends and first clients started to do very well in their businesses, that I knew far more about marketing and being self-employed than I realized.
I wondered out loud to my wife Holly, “What should I learn to help people with the emotional side of business? Stuff comes up and then they get stuck.” Almost immediately the incredibly beautiful and strange world of Sufism appeared in our lives.
Starting in 2000, I spent five years learning with the Sufis at what is now the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism, graduating with a speciality in Organizational and Business Healing (can you imagine?), and went on to serve as faculty in their Teacher Internship Program as well as a board member.
Heart of Business was born in the midst of all this. As I integrated the Sufi teachings in my heart, I was often left weeping in the face of the majesty of the Divine. And I kept finding jewels in the teachings that helped open up Divine understanding and love in business practices.
And, just for fun, here are ten random facts about me:
- Straight edge punk rock, funny haircuts and all, are what kept me plugged in teen years through early adulthood. If you listen you can still find me humming the Ramones, the Clash, or Minor Threat.
- I studied in France, and got the accent down so well at the time that I was once mistaken for French during a (very) short conversation. They wouldn’t believe I was an American. Sadly I can’t reproduce that effect today.
- When I was managing editor for Anything That Moves, the bisexual magazine, I and Holly were on Oprah, on her show about bisexuality, back in the 1990s. It was a surreal experience, and the magazine didn’t get any boost from the added attention.
- I used to fence competitively (epée) in high school and college, went to the Junior Olympics (washed out in the first round) and tied for third in the New England Championships while in college.
- I always thought I was going to be rabbi, and find myself as surprised as anyone to have landed on the Sufi path.
- My first major do-it-yourself home repair project was in 2010 when I replaced our kitchen sink. Since then, I’ve been eyeing even more ambitious projects. I was surprised at how satisfying it was.
- Astrologically I have five planets in Virgo. I’m also a one on the Enneagram. I’m waiting to implode in a fit of detail-oriented-perfectionism.
- I don’t consider myself particularly visionary, which I know surprises folks. I do much better with short-to-mid-term goals, and have to be pushed hard to dream big without getting itchy to go implement something immediately.
- I’m very happy being at home. Given the choice between globe-trotting to exotic locales and exploring our local neighborhood, well, let’s just say I’m more attached to my shoes and bicycle than my frequent flier program.
- I love to cook, especially baking. I almost chose to go to culinary school after my paramedic career, but realized that if I did it for work I might not enjoy it as much.
