Born and raised in Southern California, an engineer by training, and a Glendale resident since 2020. Here is how high-pressure fluid dynamics and a lifetime of fire season anxiety led to a smarter rooftop defense.
Founder & CEO, Flash Fog Zer0
Location: Glendale, CA (LA Resident since 2014)
Education: UCLA Anderson (MBA), Tufts University (BS ChemE)
Alumni: Opower, Oracle, Pioneer AI, SkyDeck
Background: High-Pressure Process Engineering, Software & Operations
Growing up in Southern California, wildfire season was never an abstract concept - it was a seasonal reality marked by ash falling on windshields and orange-tinted horizons. I vividly remember the smoke plumes from Cadencia Fire in my youth, the firefighters driving by, the news and packing up the family photo albums in case we needed to evacuate.
Later, while studying Chemical Engineering across the country at Tufts University in Boston, I experienced a different kind of fire anxiety: watching SoCal burn on college dorm TVs, hundreds of miles away, frantically calling home to make sure my family and friends were safe. The October 2007 fires had an immense toll on the communities from where I hailed.
"In 2026, it is completely absurd that homeowners are still losing their life savings and memories to wind-driven embers. Over 90% of home ignitions happen because of floating embers - something a smart, automated moisture barrier can solve before flames ever arrive."
After returning to Los Angeles in 2014 and settling in the Glendale foothills in 2020, the problem hit closer to home than ever. Watching neighbors face sudden non-renewals, sky-high CA FAIR Plan rates, and rolling Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) during extreme wind events made it exceedingly clear: relying on legacy $50,000+ rooftop sprinklers connected to municipal water supplies simply doesn't work for modern foothill communities. Neither does doing nothing, so I set to work.
With a background in high-pressure process engineering - having spent years at high-growth startups and designing microfluidization systems at 30,000+ PSI - I realized we could apply water atomization and boundary-layer micro-misting to extinguish embers using 90% less water and 100% grid independence.
Prior to starting Flash Fog Zer0, I spent years building technology products and leading growth teams across companies like Opower (behavioral energy conservation), Oracle, Pioneer AI, and as an alumnus of the UCLA Venture Accelerator and UC Berkeley SkyDeck startup accelerator.
My mission with Flash Fog Zer0 is straightforward: deliver a practical, non-invasive, $9,500 rooftop defense system that installs in a single day, preserves your home, and brings real insurance peace of mind back to our foothill neighborhoods.
Join our 2026 Foothill Founder's Pilot program for Brockmont, Chevy Chase Canyon, La Cañada Flintridge, and Montrose.
Apply for Pilot Access