Noah nystrom was born to David and Eleanor Nystrom, two successful professionals who called Los Angeles home. A corporate biotech executive and attorney and law professor, respectively, not a penny was spared in making sure that their children were given the best that money could buy. Private school (Harvard-Westlake), summer camp (Pali Adventures), tutors (whatever promising UCLA student Eleanor could wrangle), you named it, they had it. The expectations that came with having such high-performing parents were met by his sisters and exceeded by Noah. As the middle child of three, he demanded the center of attention, ensuring that he wans't overshadowed by either of his siblings or forgotten about by his parents. Though he didn't particularly enjoy school, if it meant that doing well and bringing home top grades won him praise and attention, he made it happen.

Seeking attention also meant goofing off in class. Noah was quick to learn that while good grades could earn praise from his parents and teachers, his peers didn't care if he brought home a report card full of As. And so he became the class clown, making his friends laughing, sometimes at the expense of the classroom. Letters home from teachers and phone calls from the principal weren't an uncommon occurrence, and while it wasn't exactly a point of pride for the Nystroms, they took solace in the fact that Noah's shenanigans were almost always seemingly harmless. He continued to do well in school without much effort and seemed to be shaping up into a good kid...until puberty hit. He started to change, as did the way he saw the world around him. By the time high school rolled around, the loud, obnoxious middle child had toned himself down in favor of flying under the radar rather than draw any extra attention to himself. He found that he genuinely enjoyed learning and struggled to find a balance between schoolwork, of which he had a lot, and a social life, of which he lacked. The latter didn't bother him as much, though his mother saw it differently, especially upon hearing that Noah was thought to be one of the weird kids in the delicate high school ecosystem. Taking matters into her own hands, she insisted that he play a sport each semester, hoping it he would be able to strike a happy balance between popular kid and loner.

Her strategy seemed to work, and it wasn't long before Noah's competitive natured kicked in. Soon, his long list of extracurriculars began to rival that of his older sister's. He made friends among his teammates, those he rowed crew with in particular, worked his way onto a couple of other varsity teams, and got into the usual teenage mischief (including hiding out in a tree to avoid getting arrested after a party was busted, but that was just a one-time thing).

Sitting comfortably near the top of his class with along string of extracurriculars meant that college application season was easy peasy for Noah. He had his pick of schools, and like so many of his peers around the country, NYU was at the top of his list. He was admitted via early decision and his sense of adventure had him eager to leave Los Angeles for the concrete jungle.

Unfortunately, Noah's freshman class was unlike any other. They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, eager to take on the world, but September 2001 held other plans. The number one dream school quickly turned into a nightmare, with the semester barely in session on that fateful Tuesday morning. The fear, grief, and anguish that resulted would leave an imprint on him for the rest of his life. His parents insisted that he move closer to home, maybe start at UCLA or USC in the winter term, but Noah wouldn't relent. The way he saw it, he had chosen his path and he had to stick to it, though there were times that he had to admit that maybe it would've been easier had that path stayed in Los Angeles County.

He tried his best to assume some sense of normalcy, as did many people at the time. For Noah, that meant throwing himself into everything that college—and New York—had to offer. Unfortunately, that also meant that he was quick to burn out, his grades starting to nosedive sometime during his sophomore year. A summer living at home reminded him exactly why he had been so eager to get out of there, and he returned to New York that fall, desperate to hang onto his rightful spot in the Class of 2005. It's not until years later that he readily admits that a gap year would've done him a hell of a lot of good.

Graduating cum laude, but only barely, with a degree in psychology meant that Noah was faced with a dearth of job options after college. College had afforded him with a sense of self that he wasn't quite ready to bring home to California, and certainly not for whatever job his father would have lined up for him. As luck would have it, he applied to National Geographic for a program assistant position in their Washington D.C. office, and was accepted. Two months after graduation, he moved to the capitol to start his adult life.

He was quick to learn that office life just didn't fit him. He found it stuffy, the water cooler gossip petty and boring, and the politics juvenile. He preferred to stay under the radar and immune to it all, but Noah's coworkers seemed to have other plans for him. They were drawn to his friendly, laid back nature and found it to be refreshing compared to his east coast counterparts. Fortunately, his job required regular travel out of the country that he was very eager to take advantage of, and if he were to be completely honest, it was the only reason he had applied for the position anyway.

He spent a year at National Geographic trying to figure out what his next steps, and another year putting that plan into motion. He was accepted to the small handful of graduate schools that he had applied to and eventually decided to return to New York to pursue his Psy.D. at Yeshiva University. He had zeroed in on psychology as an undergrad after taking a variety of classes in several departments at the university, only to find that when major declaration day rolled around, he needed to make a decision and make one fast. After realizing that he had the most psychology courses under his belt, he declared his major with every intention of changing it once he figured out what he really wanted to do. Luckily for him, a charismatic professor had won him offer during his junior year, tying him to the department for the rest of college. He certainly hadn't anticipated pursuing a graduate degree in the field, let alone an entire career, but as far as Noah was concerned, he had all the time in the world for do-overs later on.

Five years at Yeshiva flew by fast, and he was glad to be back in his old stomping grounds in New York. The academics were interesting, the clinical work rewarding, and he couldn't exactly complain about his personal life, either. After earning his Psy.D., he completed a post-doc at Mount Sinai and was recruited for a clinical position at Columbia soon thereafter. Unfortunately, he found the university setting to have far too much red tape for his liking, and he began to seek work elsewhere. Thinking that it was time to branch out, Noah explored his options in other cities before finally settling in Boston, where he now works as a partner at Azimuth Psychological.