WHERE I COME FROM

Raised like a weed in the field.

I grew up in a Syrian Jewish home in Brooklyn, the oldest son of a father who arrived in this country without speaking English, was placed straight into high school, finished 11th and 12th grade in a single year, and opened his own retail store at the same time.

He gave us a comfortable life, but he never handed us anything we didn't earn. Want to go to a friend's house? How do you plan on getting there? My grandfather still says I was raised like a weed in the field.

At 10, I asked my dad how to get money. His answer: work. So every Sunday at 10 a.m. I tended my grandfather's garden for $10 a day. By seventh grade I was buying 12-packs on sale at Walgreens and selling cans at school, cold ones from a cooler once my brother started competing. My dad's review when he found out: quit while you're ahead.

My Jiddo taught me something else in that garden. Our tradition was to be loved and preserved, he said, but “you cannot allow yourself to simply wade in the shallows of God's ocean.” I've been swimming out ever since.

THE OTHER SIDE

“You are on the other side.”

There's an old Arabic joke about Jiha, walking along a river. A man on the far bank yells, “How do I get to the other side?” Jiha yells back, “You are on the other side!” That joke is most of my politics.

My community was close-knit, and conformity was the default. College is where I started shopping in what I call the marketplace of ideas: conversation. When I applied to Hunter's honors program to design my own major, I refused to choose between political philosophy and my Syrian and Jewish heritage. My argument was that the best part of an Oreo is the cookie and the cream.

A Palestinian classmate in Model UN sent me down a rabbit hole on a conflict I'd only ever heard one side of. In January 2017 I traveled to Israel and the West Bank with The David Project. In Arabic, I pressed Fatah officials and argued with Palestinian shopkeepers. In Hebrew, I questioned Israeli Supreme Court justices, debated settlers, and challenged soldiers.

I also sat in on a Hillel panel with two women rabbis, something my yeshiva education told me couldn't exist. Parts of it made me angry enough to step out of the room. I went back, asked them about the verses I thought settled the question, and heard answers I'd never imagined. Disturbing isn't the same as dismissible.

That's the habit behind The Chakkalo Report. There's always more not to know than to know, and you can't form a real opinion until you understand how the other side sees it.

IN THE ROOM

I’d rather hear it in person.

Disagreeing well starts with listening. These are a few of the rooms I’ve been in: some with people I agree with, some with people I don’t, and all of them worth hearing out.

Both sides of the Gaza debate

In September 2024 I went to Open to Debate in New York to hear Eylon Levy argue that Israel’s actions in the Gaza war were justified and Mehdi Hasan argue that they weren’t. I wanted to hear both cases made at full strength, by people who make them for a living. I commend both men for their rhetorical prowess, and I covered the debate on The Chakkalo Report.

Advocating for sellers

At the 2026 Amazon Seller Advocacy Summit, I met Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Sen. Mark Kelly as part of a lobbying effort for independent sellers. I commend Sen. Baldwin for her work on the Affordable Care Act. I oppose Sen. Kelly’s bill to repeal the One Big Beautiful Bill’s school choice scholarship tax credit, but I respect his service to this country and his moderation within his party. Disagreeing on a bill is no reason to stop talking.

A voice for the middle

I commend Eric Adams as a moderate voice who pulls toward the center. Most Americans aren’t at either extreme, and he speaks for that plurality instead of the loudest corners of his party.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

I was supposed to be a lawyer.

At five I watched Law & Order with my dad and decided that was the job. I built high school at Flatbush around debate and Model Congress, studied philosophy in Hunter College's Thomas Hunter Honors Program (Phi Sigma Tau, Dean's List), and spent a year on Middle East political theory at Tel Aviv University.

Through college I worked two jobs: selling at Malsons Jewelers in Kings Plaza and serving as the only litigation paralegal at a Brooklyn firm, drafting motions and managing my own caseload alongside the firm's roughly 86 cases a year.

My law school applications were already uploaded when an LSAT instructor asked what kind of life I wanted. When I told her, she said: “You don't want to be a lawyer. You want to be the client.”

BUILDING IT THE HARD WAY

Sleeping in the warehouse.

I've been selling on Amazon since 2010, back when I printed shipping labels with my ten free daily prints at the Flatbush library. In 2016 it became a real business, funded with savings and a Roth IRA withdrawal you should never make.

We started with dollar-store light bulbs, driving as far north as Massachusetts with the heat off to save gas and repacking in a basement until 11 at night. Then detergent, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. In 2020 we launched our own brand, because nobody can cut off the supply of a product you own.

During COVID nobody could keep soap on the shelves. We hired anyone with a pulse, slept in the warehouse more than at home, and once guarded 27 pallets on a Brooklyn sidewalk until a truck showed up at 3 a.m. We loaded it ourselves and signed for our first real space the next morning.

Today it's a hybrid of high-volume resale and higher-margin private label across Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, and eBay. I still oversee inventory, advertising, customer service, and compliance, and I negotiate the six- and seven-figure deals with overseas manufacturers. Leaning into PMax and creative bundling cut our ACoS by 25%.

I'm not a guy behind a laptop selling a course. I still work the warehouse floor with my gloves on, and that's the whole point of Just A Seller: lessons from someone who actually does the work.

Still on the warehouse floor. An operator, not a course.

2010

Selling on Amazon since

8-figure

Multi-channel ecommerce operation

2,500+

SKUs managed across platforms

40%

Fewer FBA stockouts after a supply chain overhaul

ON STAGE AND ON AIR

Where I've shown up.

I host The Chakkalo Report and Just A Seller's video breakdowns, moderate the reseller channel at Million Dollar Sellers, and show up anywhere sellers want the truth over tactics.

CONFERENCES & TALKS

MDS Summit, Milan (2025)
Prosper Show
Seller Summit
BDSS / Market Masters
Q4 Summit Domination
Sellers United
Sanderson PPC Mastery Summit
SBH Live: Bitcoin Bootcamp

PODCASTS & SHOWS

The Momentum Podcast
My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast
AM/PM Podcast
eCommerce MasterPlan
BlueTuskr
Everyday AI
Mark Talukdar
Retail-Outsource

PRESS

Smerconish.com
CNBC
New York Post
The Times of Israel
Business Insider
Billion Dollar Sellers
Melio
Connected Commerce Council

COMMUNITY

Giving back to the community that raised me.

There was a time I thought my community had more bad than good to offer. I came back, I see its beauty, and I fight for it.

SBH Young Professionals. After nearly losing my business, I started a financial literacy workshop, then went on to chair the board.

Sephardic Community Federation. I run its digital presence and help connect the community with its elected officials.

UJA-Federation of New York. Shapiro Family Fellow, August 2025 to October 2026: a yearlong UJA program for young leaders that pairs a trip to Israel with cohort learning on Jewish leadership and the New York Jewish community. I stay involved as a Shapiro Fellowship alum.

Community Security Service. Trained volunteer security, protecting synagogues and community institutions.

Advocacy. I'm pushing forward Ray's Law. At the 2026 Amazon Seller Advocacy Summit on Capitol Hill, I met with Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Tammy Baldwin, who sponsors its federal counterpart, the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act (ELSA).

Two worlds, one voice.

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