In 2009, Jared founded Nascenta, a nonprofit organization that runs diversity workshops based on a lesson structure developed by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) to address the challenges in post-Apartheid South Africa and build an understanding of the prejudices that can drive decision-making. The methodology behind the workshop has garnered IJR the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. Originally from Cape Town in South Africa, Jared witnessed the efficacy of IJR’s methods during a program for student leaders in social societies and student politics at the University of Cape Town in 2002. Inspired by the methodology and effectiveness of the program, Jared developed a similar program targeting high school students, which was run in 2004 and 2005 with support from the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Subsequently, he sought to bring a similar style of training and engagement to New York and the US, through creating Nascenta as a New York not-for-profit organization.
Since then, Nascenta has led the effort in adapting IJR's acclaimed diversity workshops to a US setting and has been at the forefront of delivering flexible, feedback-oriented training that addresses inherent biases.
Nascenta’s workshops teach students about diversity across different categories, as well as the discrimination and prejudice that is sometimes generated around them, and the best ways to understand and fight them. Through careful team-building techniques and open, nonjudgmental discussions, Nascenta seeks to get people to understand their own inherent biases, and the reasons underlying them. The method then teaches them to overcome the biases, both within themselves, as well as within society. Through feedback and a flexible approach, Nascenta customizes the program to adapt to specific communities, new techniques or current issues.
Jared attended NYU for a Masters Degree in Economics on a Fulbright Scholarship and was also a recipient of the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Award. In addition to running Nascenta, Jared also works at Silverpoint Group Holdings, a global private equity firm, and has spent the last 8 years in the hedge fund industry in NYC and Dubai. He has special interests in the structure and efficiency of financial firms, as well as the potential benefits of the financial products in the space of risk management for sovereign and corporate entities. Jared also serves on the Young Professionals Board of The Nature Conservancy, an environmental conservation organization, and One To World, a cultural enrichment program for Fulbright grantees and foreign students in the US.
Nascenta: http://nascenta.org