“Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” - Sam Levenson. Zuby’s visual impairment had given him setbacks like being unable to pursue his medical aspirations and US Army career. But he kept moving ahead by choosing alternatives and spent 15 years in corporate America as a software engineer. With the progression of his condition, he has dedicated his life experience to creating innovating solutions to benefit the visually impaired. Zuby is the founder and inventor of Think and Zoom: Brain Control for Blind Assistive Tech for which he has received a patent. He is also a global motivational speaker and his speech "Overcoming Disability with Creative Abilities" has received rave reviews at events such as United Nations Social Good Summit, SXSW Tech Inclusion, TEDx Youth@Austin and several others. Zuby has addressed the US Congress as a Disability Advocate on Capitol Hill through a scholarship from the National Federation of the Blind.

How did you get the idea for “ThinkAndZoom”? How did use your expertise and experiences for your inventions?Z: The idea for Think and Zoom came to me back in 1998, when I couldn’t see at the DMV to renew my drivers license. Prior to that I was a pre-med student in the US Army and in two short years my eyesight went from 20/40 to 20/200. This prompted a medical discharge from the army which also led to a suspension of my medical studies. I always had a passion for medicine but sadly I could not make it to medical school. After my eyesight prompted the discharge and the suspension above I was forced to switch gears to study engineering.
Think and zoom is a combination of my experience firsthand with struggling to see and my passion for medicine along with my education in computer engineering and training as a software engineer with almost 15 years of experience

How have changes to your vision affected the course of your professional life? What challenges did you face during this journey and what kept you motivated?Z: Apart from the history above, one of the challenges I faced with my eyesight was that of instability and unpredictability. I just never knew what it will do next. A couple of examples are after I was admitted at Howard University executive MBA program while others started school I spent two weeks at Johns Hopkins Eye care center. The MBA program was very aggressive and I lost too much time and I had to drop out. Another example was after spending six months studying for PMP and actually enrolled in a course IT project management the day before the exam my eyes went berserk and the following day I didn’t take my exam. yet another example was after spending several months studying for UT MBA program the day before the exam my eyes when berserk again and all the money I spent went down the drain and there are so many other examples.
What kept me going was the thought of getting to a better place or phase in life where this problems will either go away or the impact will be reduced, getting to a better brighter future literally.

What is the most memorable motivational speech you have delivered? How do you prepare yourself for speeches on the global stage?Z: The most memorable speech I have ever given is my TEDx talk “how I learned to look, think and zoom” at TEDxYouth Austin in February 2018. my message was that from all of my challenges, I had narrowed down three steps to always get to a better situation.
- the first step is to “look” meaning imagine what that better situation will look like you have to imagine it the
- second step is to “think” meaning put together a plan or strategy of how you get to your better situation and then
- the third step is zoom meeting execute your plan otherwise you’ll be stuck in a dream
Put it all together, and you can Look, Think and Zoom into a better, brighter, future.
Being that I never received a proper training, I prepare by talking to a number of people that I know are good at it both for delivery and also for crafting the message for example for my Ted talk I talked to Efosa Ojomo a researcher at Harvard Business and co- author of an upcoming book with Clayton Christensen, who helped me with opening message. I also talked to Ian Folau, a fellow veteran entrepreneur and part of the Bunker Labs ecosystem who helped me with the message and I talked to Moby who runs fire show podcast who again helped me refine my target audience. So in preparing for a speech I talk to people to help me with the message and the delivery

What changes are needed to the education system to make higher education more accessible for the special needs students?Z: There are several changes that are needed but I’ll reference one. AIM HIGH Act to promote Equal Access for the Blind and other Students with Disabilities. Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher Education (AIM HIGH) Act, S. 2138. This legislation is supported by the National Federation of the Blind, along with other advocate groups. This bill will authorize the creation of voluntary guidelines to help colleges and universities meet the needs of blind students and students with other disabilities that make it difficult or impossible to read print. The guidelines will be created by a commission made up of people with disabilities, developers, manufacturers, and representatives from colleges and universities. In 2017 and 2018 as part of my disability advocacy work, I was part of a team of NFB members that went to the US Congress to speak with lawmakers about passing this bill.

Who is your favorite innovator and why?Z: George Washington Carver. His inventions covers many areas like cosmetics paint stain peanut crop sweet potato and many others. I liked him because he was multi-disciplinary and he also had compassion for humanity. His honors include 100 greatest Americans 100 greatest African-Americans Hall of fame for inventors and so many other awards.

What is your best achievement so far? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?Z: I think my best achievement to date is earning my patent on “Think and Zoom: Brian control for Blind Assistive Tech”. see link.
In 10 years, I’d like to have reinvented the eye care system, so that diagnosis of eye problems is done early in a child’s life, affordable, and streamlined. My hope is that this would help reduce the 70% unemployment rate affecting America’s visually impaired and 90% illiteracy rate, affecting this demographic world wide.

What is your favorite place to visit? What do you like about that place?Z: Before the age of 18 I had read hundreds of novels because I loved to read. I love the feel and the smell of the book I love to hold it in between my hands and my fingers my eyes going from line to line and flipping the page it was an experience I cherried very much I will lose myself in the story I was reading.
After I became legally blind I cannot longer experience books this way so I immerse myself in movies. one of my favorite places to go to today is the movie theater. It enables me to get lost in that world like I would have previously experienced while reading the book.

What are your other hobbies?Z: I love to escape and lose myself in other worlds. When I was younger, and my eyes were much better, I read a lot of novels, and watched a lot of movies. Today, I’m not able to read print novels anymore, so I watch movies, and embark on adventures like rock climbing, hiking, parasailing, and sometimes, I listen to audiobooks.

What tips/advice do you have for those in our community who want to pursue higher education?Z: My suggestion would be two fold. one is have the willingness to learn and the second is be resourceful enough to adopt your learning to a style that best suits you.
In my personal experience pre-med did not work out, computer engineering undergraduate was a huge struggle including flunking out halfway , going to Mba school did not work out, PMP and MBA did not work but I always had a thirst for learning which could not be quenched so I kept searching for ways to fulfill that desire and I discovered MOOCS online learning which have enabled me to get to places through the Internet to learn at places like MIT and Harvard.
And through these MOOCS I’ve also been admitted to short one week programs at MIT and I have been accepted at harvard medical school healthcare innovation boot camp in August 2018. again another one week program another source of learning is Hackathorn‘s - sometimes one day long are sometimes one weekend long but a person can learn a lot about an industry or about how to build a team about how to build a product about how to solve a problem.
Examples of Hackathons I’ve participated in include Texas Medical Center innovation hacks, and Perkins hacks where I taught MIT and Harvard students “prototyping Blind assistive tech”. Meetup (meetup.com) groups are also a great resource and I co organize one at capital factory in Austin Texas called Austin Hispanic hackers with Eddy Reyes and others.

Any special message for our community?Z: we have to emerge as leaders, and be in the forefront of issues that affect us, from policy, to products. The invention Think and Zoom, is now Think and Zoom Solutions. I’m starting a new journey, of a new approach to serving the blind community of the future, via predicting blindness today Think and Zoom Predictions is currently enrolled in a National Science Foundation I-Corp program, to research and test hypothesis, and in fall, we are headed to Harvard Medical school, to study healthcare innovation, along with Santiago Vasquez, another blind student and innovator and founder of a blind assistive tech company EyeSight, that is developing real time tactile display. With more of us, embarking on similar ventures, we can finally “create a world where visual impairment can no longer steal dreams or kill careers”. A world where we can Look, Think and Zoom into a better, brighter, future !!