Alumni Profile: Asher King Abramson ‘05 Goes from Curious Kid to Entrepreneur and Fun-Master
Curiosity. Fun. People. These three things stuck with me after I caught up with Marin Horizon alum Asher King Abramson '05.
Asher has loved learning since his earliest days at Marin Horizon. He discovered that school isn't something to dread, that learning can be fun, and that the people you do things with matter just as much as the task itself.
That energy has led to a dynamic career. Asher has founded multiple companies – one in the marketing space and another in the job search space – and now works in GTM (Go-to-Market) Engineering for Beacon Software, a holding company that buys and grows businesses.
Outside of work, his social life is just as creative (and fun!). He's been known to host compliment rap battles, a bark mitzvah, and learn-a-thons for his friends. While in college, he co-founded the UCLA Quidditch Team.
As Asher puts it, "My favorite moments in life come from doing things I couldn't do anywhere else, with people I wouldn't meet anywhere else, and setting an off-ball screen that leads to a layup in 5-on-5 basketball."
Read the full interview to learn how Asher went from curious kid to entrepreneur and fun-master…
When did you graduate from Marin Horizon School, and for which grades did you attend?
I graduated in 2005 and attended grades 1 through 8.
What schools did you attend after Marin Horizon? What were your fields of study and what degrees did you earn?
The Urban School of San Francisco and then UCLA, earning a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Accounting.
What are you doing now, professionally and personally? Where are you living? What are you enjoying most about life?
Professionally, I started a couple of companies, one in the marketing space and one in the job search space. I currently work for Beacon, a holding company that buys businesses forever and soups them up with an internal tech team. I do a mix of marketing, engineering, and recruiting.
Personally, I enjoy dragging friends to (and hosting) weird events like bark mitzvahs, learn-a-thons, compliment rap battles, ostrich and camel races, turning living rooms into mini golf courses, and much more.
I live in San Francisco, but I’ve started spending more time in New York this year and am having a blast.
My favorite moments in life come from doing things I couldn’t do anywhere else, with people I wouldn’t meet anywhere else, and setting an off-ball screen that leads to a layup in 5-on-5 basketball.
Theo, the English Springer Spaniel, at his Bark Mitzvah
What is your favorite memory of Marin Horizon School? Educational or otherwise?
In 7th grade, we were assigned characters in an American prairie town in the 1800s as part of a history simulation. We had a mayor, a railroad baron, a town doctor, etc., and were given different types of resources (like money and political capital) to trade with classmates. I was a cattle rancher, and I remember going DEEP researching 1870s farm conditions because I wanted to make sure my cattle survived winter.
Who was your favorite teacher and why?
Anne Porter-Roth. The library was always my safe place, and she recommended the best books. (She was the one who recommended Harry Potter to me, and I went on to co-found the UCLA Quidditch team!) She also taught me skills that have served me my entire life, particularly how to research online, how to cook the basics, and how to look for media bias. Most importantly, she believed in me.
What was your favorite class and why?
At the time, P.E. (especially baseball day). In hindsight, 7th grade algebra. I may have cried doing the homework every night, but Mark drilled dimensional analysis into the core of my soul, and I use it all the time today.
How did Marin Horizon prepare you for your next steps - high school and beyond?
It taught me to enjoy learning, to stay curious, and to care about the world and the people around me. It made academics feel fun instead of hard.
With the benefit of hindsight, what do you think was unique about your education at Marin Horizon, compared with your peers in high school and beyond?
It prioritized learning over grades. I’ve met a lot of people who just wanted a gold star in school, or who wanted to go to a “good school” to get a “good job.” But to me, that misses the texture and flavor of the actual things you learn and the work you do. It’s like listening to a piece of music just to get to the end. Marin Horizon taught me to enjoy the music.
MHS also focuses on EQ in a special way; I’ve never heard of another school doing something like the Fuzzy Bunny Awards.
Are there things you learned at Marin Horizon that stay with you to this day?
Here’s an incomplete list: media literacy; how to research; what hard work feels like; what curiosity feels like; how to make learning fun; a sense of responsibility for the world; poetry; that school doesn’t have to be something you dread; that the people you work with matter as much as what you work on.