Life & Work with Daniel Zahler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Zahler.

Hi Daniel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, a city known for two things: Yale University and pizza. New Haven has a few legendary pizza restaurants – Sally’s, Pepe’s, Modern Apizza – and people love to debate which one is the best.

I went to Harvard College. You could say I was an overachiever: pre-med, chemistry major, calculus TA, editor-in-chief of the weekly campus paper. I loved my time at Harvard and made some amazing friends there.

After college, I moved to New York City for a job at Goldman Sachs. I was a venture capital analyst, managing investments in early-stage tech companies. I left Goldman after a year but ended up staying in New York for 12 years.

I got the full Manhattan experience. I lived in different apartments all over Manhattan – Financial District, Upper West Side, East Village, and West Village. You experience the city in such different ways depending on the neighborhood. I had friends downtown who were standup comics. They encouraged me to go to a few open mics. Eventually, I was doing standup comedy at clubs in Greenwich Village.

I moved to Santa Monica in 2017. I wanted something different after my years in New York. I was able to work remotely, so I figured, why not move out west and live by the beach?

I love living in Santa Monica. I found one of the keys to LA survival is creating your own small-town vibe within the big city. Finding a small community where you run into familiar faces. I run into friends every week in Palisades Park, the Santa Monica Farmers Market, and local cafes. It’s a nice change from the fast-paced New York City life I was used to.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My career has been anything but a smooth road. More like a rollercoaster! I’ve changed careers so many times. When I quit my job at Goldman Sachs, people thought I was crazy. Why would I leave such a lucrative career path? The job was making me miserable. I had to pick myself up and figure out a new way forward.

I ended up going to Harvard Law School but decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer. I worked as a McKinsey consultant and a biotech hedge fund analyst. I did a few tech startups. Somewhere along the way I pursued my passion for movies and creative writing. I wrote movie screenplays and produced a feature film.

Today I’m focused on my work as a healthcare consultant, writer, and community leader.

Covid forced me to reinvent myself yet again. I was used to working remotely as a business consultant. But I was living alone, and I had to find new ways to connect with people.

I started to volunteer at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. I launched my health newsletter, Vitamin Z. I performed zoom comedy shows for friends and family. I organized picnics in Palisades Park.

In the summer of 2020, I created a group called NYC in LA to support New Yorkers relocating to Southern California during Covid. It started as a WhatsApp group with 20 friends.

Today, NYC in LA is a community of 1,500 people supporting each other personally and professionally. Last year we were featured in The New York Times.

We’ve started hosting monthly NYC in LA events that regularly draw 80-100 people. Our members are mostly single, young professionals. New friendships have been forged. Business connections made. Every day people share local recommendations, activities, events and apartment listings.

There’s something special about bringing together New Yorkers in Southern California. New Yorkers are a distinct subculture. We all went through the same struggles: Finding an apartment, navigating the subway, and dealing with the intensity of NYC life. It’s become an incredible source of community for me here in LA.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work as a business consultant for tech and healthcare. I’ve helped companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Stripe, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis with strategy, growth, and product development. I’ve guest lectured at USC and The New School (NYC).

I enjoy working at the intersection of technology and healthcare: mobile health and digital therapeutics, telehealth and virtual care, medical data & analytics, AI diagnostics, AI drug discovery, smart medical devices, and robotic surgery. It’s exciting to think about how we can improve healthcare and expand access to quality care for all those in need.

In 2020, I started writing a newsletter called Vitamin Z. I wanted to share what I was learning about health from my work interviewing hundreds of doctors. I saw an opportunity to combine science with storytelling. I’ve grown my audience to over 3,000 subscribers.

I love writing about health and wellness. People keep giving me ideas for new topics. I see the newsletter as part of an ongoing conversation about what it means to lead a happy, productive, fulfilling life.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Networking is changing. In-person events and conferences aren’t the only way to meet people who can help your career. I tell people to share their work online – whether it’s a blog, email newsletter, podcast, or YouTube channel.

The best networking combines both online and offline approaches. Go to an in-person event, then write about what you learned there. The two channels should be mutually reinforcing.

Here’s an example. I wrote an article about my experience at a medically-supervised ketamine clinic. The piece went viral. I had dozens of people ask me about ketamine therapy. A telemedicine clinic specializing in ketamine therapy approached me to be an advisor.

My general approach is: Learn as much as you can about a subject you’re interested in, talk to a few experts in that field, and then write about what you’ve learned. People with similar interests will find you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vitaminz.substack.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielzahler/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-zahler/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanZahler