We've assembled an uncommonly accomplished and diverse team hailing from all corners of the globe-
from China to Utah - and including: a painter, a former bicycle taxi driver, a rock climber, a djembe player, a
belly dancer, a former dj, a lighting designer, a poet, a drummer, vegetarians, and gardeners.
John Becker
John Becker is the man behind the camera in the photography department, bringing his skill and talent with
a lens to the UncommonGoods team.
Born and raised in Boston, the ardent Red Sox fan remained in the cradle of the Revolution to study
psychology and the arts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After a short stint in the
advertising industry, John began to pursue his passion for the camera. With the best technical education he
could fi nd (from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA), he traveled around the world
taking photos. Literally, in fact - he circled the entire globe on one photographic expedition, stopping in
thirteen countries including Thailand, India, Tanzania, Brazil and Cuba on the circumnavigation.
When he's not shooting photos, John can be found in his Harlem apartment, playing his djembe and
didgeridoo, watching the Discovery Channel and listening to Phish.
Dave Bolotsky
Born in New York City, Dave Bolotsky grew up on the Lower East Side, where his grandfather once ran
a candy store just a few blocks away. His father worked for the United Nations, so his family traveled
extensively, and for as long as he can remember, he has been infl uenced by art, individual creativity and
international cultures. He also found himself surrounded by animals at a young age, during his early jobs at
nature centers and animal shelters.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he managed
the school's record store, he spent twelve years as a retail research analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Co. Not
the typical Wall Street analyst; he also obtained a license to drive a pedicab and moonlighted as a bicycle
taxi driver!
Finding the retail landscape of the late 1990s homogenized by mass-produced merchandise, Dave
recognized an opportunity. Out of his interest in artistic creativity, individuality and social responsibility,
he founded UncommonGoods in 1999. Dave is personally committed to improving education for less-
advantaged young people. He is a founder and board member of Comprehensive Development, Inc.
(CDI), a non-profi t organization that works with an innovative Manhattan high school to provide tutoring,
legal and medical advice, job placement, and homelessness prevention to its student body.
Dave is back on the Lower East Side, with his wife Barbara and their sons Evan and Drew, in the same
apartment that his grandmother and grandfather lived in fi fty years ago.
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anything but ordinary
www.uncommongoods.com
