As an investment banker, Andy Stein never imagined that a visit to an orphanage in Chile would change his life, and the life of thousands of others. In 2001, after 25 years on Wall Street, Andy Stein left everything behind to start the Orphaned Starfish Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with orphaned, trafficked, and at-risk youth around the world. The NGO has built 50 vocational centers and computer labs in 25 countries.

I first read about Andy Stein on The CNN Freedom Project, a TV show highlighting projects around the world that are fighting modern-day slavery. I never imagined I’d have the opportunity to interview Andy to learn about his work, travels, and why he loves to do magic tricks during his spare time.

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Reading List

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace – One School At A Time by Greg Mortenson

Show Notes for Andy Stein

• Andy was an investment banker and is now a “recovering banker”
• He flew around so much that he was the #1 flyer for Continental Airlines in New Jersey
• He was only home for one month out of the year and flew 400,000 miles
• Andy learned how to make balloon animals, so he could share a skill with the kids
• Despite his busy business schedule, he spent 2 hours at an orphanage in every country that he visited
• He began to spend more and more of his time helping children, instead of in investment banking
• Soon, Andy made it a full-time endeavor
• His children were very supportive of his career change
• Andy went through a divorce but is remarried now. His new wife travels with him 80% of the time
• Andy was very used to money and living a large lifestyle
• “I knew this was what I was put on the planet to do.”
• “The environment I was in was one that was only based on who had more.”
• “Money is overrated.”
• Andy was inspired by the starfish parable and named his nonprofit organization the Orphaned Starfish
• The Orphaned Starfish has now helped 10,000 children
• “Do it for yourself. Don’t do it for others.”
• Orphaned Starfish funds itself almost exclusively from an annual gala
• Many girls who had to leave these orphanages at age 18 faced a grim future
• Andy Stein raised $40,000 during his first fundraiser
• Now Orphaned Starfish raises $1.3 million per year
• Too many galas are about the show and not about the cause, the bottomline
• Andy Stein sent a shipment of computers to an orphanage in Chile but the shipment got stuck at customs in Chile and was never released!
• Orphaned Starfish now buy their computers in-country
• “Shit happens in life.”
• In the business world, you face so many obstacles and learn to problem solve, instead of dwelling on them
• In 2016 Andy Stein was on the road all but 39 days of the year!
• “I call my apartment a storage facility with a bed.”
• The process of fundraising and administration is the “grind” for Andy Stein
• He is able to do most of his administrative work online, while traveling
• The Orphaned Starfish has only 2 paid employees
• Andy was featured on CNN’s Freedom Project, which covered stories of people fighting sex slavery around the world
• CNN filmed Andy and his work in Medellin, Colombia
• CNN did a full, three-segment piece on Orphaned Starfish
• Orphaned Starfish raised a few thousand dollars due to the coverage, but less than expected
• However, the prestige that Andy gained from being on the program opened up new doors of opportunities
• Marisol was the first orphaned girl that Andy met in Chile. Despite the childhood abuse she had suffered, Marisol studied hard and graduated a university. She works at a bank and is getting ready for a wedding
• Andy has been friends with Marisol for 15 years. She now mentors the children in the orphanage that she grew up in
• Marisol is the inspiration for Andy and thousands of other girls
• Andy had been to Tegucigalpa at least 10 times, initially for business
• Orphaned Starfish supports an orphanage in Cali, Colombia, for children with HIV/AIDS
• Andy is living mostly off of the savings that he had from his previous career
• Andy’s wealthy friends from his banking career have all kinds of “toys” but they aren’t necessarily happy
• Andy believes that children should be brought up by a regular family, but there are many cases where children are better off growing up in a group home.
• Andy’s goal is to double his impact in the next five years
• Success in family and relationship comes with sharing the same vision and passions
• Andy eats a lot of ham and cheese sandwiches
• Andy enjoys going for walks and staying active
• For Andy, Medellin is one of his favorite cities in the world
• Andy recommends Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea, though he says we should learn from the lessons taught but not take it as a nonfiction book
• Andy is most grateful for his wife and soulmate
• Andy met his soulmate at age 47
• “Focus on and follow your passion.”