Enlightenment Studio
Three Jewels has held its ground in the East Village for over 25 years — a Tibetan Buddhist center whose teachings have always felt urgent and alive. The problem was never the substance. It was the surface: a look and feel stuck decades behind the wisdom it was carrying. I rebuilt it into something the city actually wanted to walk into. Every piece of it: the brand identity, the marketing, the physical space. The result: we became NYC's #1 yoga and meditation studio (on yelp).
One of the first problems I had to solve wasn't visual, it was semantic. We taught yoga, meditation, and Buddhism, which meant no existing category fit. Calling it a "Yoga studio" ignored the meditation and the teachings. "Buddhist center" felt boring and dated. "Meditation studio" wasn’t physical enough. None of them told the truth. So we coined our own term: Enlightenment Studio.
THE MED GALA
As a nonprofit, Three Jewels needed a fundraiser — so I looked at the biggest one in the world. The Met Gala: glamour, fashion, fame, appearances. All external beauty. I asked what it would look like to throw a fundraiser on the exact same night, but flip the focus. Instead of celebrating how you look, celebrate how you think. The one night to become the most enlightened version of yourself.
The Med Gala became a red carpet benefit event celebrating the power of meditation. This sober event included a mass meditation, immersive experiences, and live music performances.
