More about Gena

Some highlights:

• I was born in Ukraine, and immigrated to the US when I was 7.
• I live in Austin with my husband Matt and our two small children, Alice and Adam.
• I play the violin, went to (and dropped out of) a conservatory for opera, and love swing dancing.
• I got my PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia, where I focused on anxiety and rumination. I did my internship/residency training at Brown. I was an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Yeshiva University in New York, and am currently a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UT Austin.
• Over the course of my clinical career, I’ve worked with pregnant and postpartum mothers, veterans, underserved teens, athletes, and more.
• Since 2019 or so, I’ve been specializing in the psychology of ambition, and have focused on working with founders. I regard ambitious people of all stripes as an underserved population. Most clinical psychology is focused on remediation of disorder and pathology; the psychological support needed by ambitious achievers and builders includes this but also requires additional frameworks and tools.
• I’ve always been a philosopher at heart. Reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead as a 16-year-old set me on a dramatically more positive path in life, and her ideas heavily influence my work to this day.
• I’m writing a book on the psychology of ambition.