Gregory John DiStefano

I consider myself a spiritual explorer, truth-seeker, and novice integral philosopher. Before writing Breakdown, I spent thirteen years in New York City working in the fields of consumer public relations and marketing. As Senior Partner at the advertising giant J. Walter Thompson, my team received the agency’s international Total Branding award in 2000, selected among entries from each account team worldwide. We were also awarded a Silver Anvil award by the Public Relations Society of America for a millennium-themed program on behalf of De Beers, the world’s largest diamond mining and marketing company.

Prior to J. Walter Thompson, I worked as Vice President at De Vries Public Relations, where I executed campaigns on behalf of MSNBC, Piaget, Hugo Boss, QVC, Buick, The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Lane Bryant, and Old Navy. It was during this time—the result of a relationship and a gnawing sense of cynicism and discontent—that I began to explore philosophy, spirituality and metaphysics, and how these disciplines intersected with the principles of science and quantum physics. In search of a truth greater than titles and material gain, I left my new Vice President position and set out on a back-packing journey around the globe, igniting a chain of events that led to the creation of this book.

More recently, after a one-year position as Executive Director of the 2003 Newport International Film Festival in Newport, RI, I consulted for the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, and was featured in the August/September, 2003 issue of What Is Enlightenment? magazine for an enlightenment-themed, economic development positioning concept I conceived for the city of Providence.

I currently live back in my home city of Providence, RI with my partner Joel, our dogs Dino and Buster, and a wonderful little cat that we found abandoned in a barn, named Zeppe.

Besides the backpacking trip around the world, my education includes an MBA in marketing from Columbia University and a BS degree in English literature from Brown University. The authors and thinkers that have influenced me most include Ken Wilber, Gary Zukav, Fritjof Capra, Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Robert Pirsig, Andrew Cohen, Richard Tarnas, Anne Wilson Schaef, Bill Wilson, Marianne Williamson, Neale Donald Walsh, Louise Hay, Don Beck, and Paramahansa Yogananda.

In addition to reading and writing; my interests include cooking, entertaining, philosophy, spirituality, tennis, travel, clay pottery of all shapes and sizes and, when I can find the time, gardening and photography.