My name is Paul Zwarts. I was born in a small rural township near Montreal, Canada, and moved to Toronto with my brother when I was eight. I consider myself a jack of all trades, but if Anders Ericsson's theory on mastery through 10,000 hours holds true, I am a master of many disciplines rather than none.

With over 25 years of professional experience, I have built a career in digital technologies, specializing in large content management systems, particularly within the travel and tourism sectors. I’ve had the privilege of working with major global airline brands and designing innovative content and review systems tailored to the leisure travel market. My journey has included leading teams of hundreds and managing budgets in the millions, offering me a unique blend of strategic vision and hands-on execution.

For much of my life, I’ve been made to feel inadequate for not having a traditional specialty, particularly since I never finished school. Instead, I chose to dive into the workforce, gaining hands-on experience across a range of industries, including manufacturing, aerospace, and financial technology. Each job became a literal step up the staircase of opportunity, teaching me invaluable skills along the way.

Over time, I gravitated toward management roles in technology. While I’ve learned to program and work with various languages, my passion lies in leading teams and driving collective success rather than focusing on the technical execution myself. My exposure to diverse industries and roles eventually led me to embrace my true strength: being a generalist.

With well above intermediate skills across a wide array of domains, I’ve developed a unique ability to solve problems and identify opportunities—or even foresee potential challenges—that a specialist might overlook. This broad perspective has become my greatest asset, allowing me to connect dots across industries and approach obstacles with creative and pragmatic solutions.

However, years of relentless work behind a computer began to take a toll on me—physically, mentally, and emotionally. The technology startup industry, while exciting and dynamic, is an intense and demanding environment that can be difficult to sustain over the long term.

Having traveled and lived on multiple continents, I’ve had the privilege of immersing myself in a variety of cultures, traditions, languages—and most importantly, for me—food. I consider myself a foodie and a capable cook, drawing inspiration from the diverse flavors and culinary traditions I’ve encountered. This passion for food led me to revisit my teenage dream of owning a restaurant, bar, or some kind of food, beverage, or entertainment venture.

Following my love of food, I embarked on a journey in the 2010s to reconnect with my rural roots and start gardening in pursuit of higher-quality, more flavorful ingredients. Along the way, I encountered a wealth of information—but much of it felt like mythology rather than grounded, practical knowledge. Online sources and books often contradicted one another, leaving me frustrated by the lack of clarity and coherence.

During my years as a strategy contractor in the airline industry, I had developed a habit of consulting peer-reviewed journals and academic research. So, I applied the same rigor to my exploration of agriculture, diving into the works of figures like Rudolf Steiner, William Albrecht, Philip Callahan, and others. What I discovered was striking: much of gardening, farming, and agriculture today relies heavily on anecdotal observation rather than solid scientific evidence. The prevailing mindset often seemed to be, “If it works for me, it must be true.”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned and one skill I’ve relied on most throughout my career, it’s this: before solving a problem, you must first ensure you’ve identified the right problem to begin with. I often told my clients, “If my team and I can’t hear your brief and then ask you several questions you hadn’t thought of yourself, we aren’t doing our job.” This approach served me well in the professional world, and I later applied it to my gardening journey.

This mindset led me to explore the work of so many thought leaders—individuals I consider to be the current generation’s pioneers of agricultural innovation. Their insights resonated with me, blending science and practical wisdom to unravel the complexities of soil health and plant vitality. They became key influences as I continued my quest for deeper understanding and better results in agriculture.

When I discovered that Dr. Elaine Ingham had coined the term "Soil Food Web" and established an online school, I wasted no time enrolling in 2017 as part of one of the first waves of students. Since then, I’ve completed the foundational courses and am now working on the thesis portion of the consulting certification. This program has not only deepened my understanding of soil biology but also fueled my passion for digging into scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines.

With this education, I’ve found a path that allows me to critically evaluate and often discard agricultural myths for what they are. By grounding myself in the scientific understanding of earth’s cycles—such as water, carbon, and nitrogen—it becomes clear where humanity’s knowledge is robust and where it falls short.

As Socrates famously said, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” This humility, paired with curiosity, drives me to continually question, learn, and seek clarity in the complex systems that sustain life on our planet.

Today, I am deeply committed to becoming a practitioner/consultant in regenerative agriculture and environmentalism. By combining my scientific knowledge with a generalist’s ability to quickly learn and solve complex problems, I aim to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. My focus is on helping others transition away from high-intervention, chemically dependent systems and toward practices that empower nature to take the lead. My ultimate goal is to contribute to global food security, environmental restoration, and human well-being through sustainable and regenerative approaches.

I am also inching closer to realizing a lifelong dream: creating a farm-to-table Airbnb on my rural property. This venture will not only offer food grown from a local, organic, and self-sufficient system but also serve as an educational experience. Guests will learn about the environment, the food system, and regenerative agriculture, with the hope of inspiring change, one perspective at a time.

I firmly believe that it is not corporations or governments that change the world—it is the consumer. When individuals shift their behaviors and make more informed choices, the rest follows. By fostering awareness and providing practical solutions, I hope to play a part in driving that transformation.