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David Flink
David Flink
01:29

David Flink

Eye to Eye

New York, NY USA

"I am someone who learns differently, and that is as much a part of my identity as anything else."

Career Roadmap

David's work combines: Education, Non-Profit Organizations, and Teaching / Mentoring

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Day In The Life

Founder / CEO

I lead the country's only national non-profit created, run by and for people with Learning and Attention Issues.

My Day to Day

As a founder and CEO, I spend most of my time meeting, emailing, and calling people. It's a lot of organizational and administrative type work. I also sit on three national nonprofit boards and serve various functions with them. I am also often reading, researching, and writing for books and conferences. I regularly speak to audiences ranging from students and educators to social entrepreneurs, policy makers, and corporate leaders.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

Once I got accepted to college, a part of me thought that I was cured, but I wasn't. I started learning more about people like me and realized their were so many with the same problems as me. I had to accept that I don't have a learning disability, I am just a person that learns differently.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Education, General

    Brown University

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Psychology, General

    Brown University

  • Graduate Degree

    Disability Studies

    Columbia University in the City of New York

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    Was never a good student, but decided that rather than becoming “the dumb kid,” he’d become “the bad kid.”

  • 2.

    As a result, he was on good terms with his school principal, whose office he was visiting constantly.

  • 3.

    He was later diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD.

  • 4.

    When he got to Brown University, he learned that one in five people have a learning or attention issue.

  • 5.

    Once he realized he wasn’t alone, he was struck with a desire to find “his people,” the learning and attention issues community.

  • 6.

    He started a support group at Brown and word soon spread to nearby schools; suddenly, hundreds of students were emailing him wanting to join his “club.”

  • 7.

    David realized he couldn’t just leave his project behind, and decided to dedicate his post-grad life to building “Project Eye-to-Eye” into a national movement.

  • 8.

    Says he’s driven by his love of learning, and his passion is to make sure that every kid can learn in an environment that best fits their needs.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Myself:

    How did I get in to college? Someone must have made a mistake.

  • How I responded:

    Once I got accepted to college, a part of me thought that I was cured, but I wasn't. I started learning more about people like me and realized their were so many with the same problems as me. I had to accept that I don't have a learning disability, I am just a person that learns differently.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

Click to expand

  • I have dyslexia and ADHD. Growing up I was always called the "dumb kid" or "bad kid" because no one knew what was wrong with me.

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