If you could go back in time and ask your 18-year-old self for guidance that I call, ‘what I wish I knew when I was you,’ wisdom, what would you inquire about and what responses might you receive? Renaissance Man (serial social entrepreneur, filmmaker, spiritual explorer, and author) Peter Samuelson has an about to be launched book called Finding Happy: A User’s Guide to Your Life With Lessons From Mine. The cover is sunshine-bright with words such as mentor, kindness, life, health, success, adventure, goals, and ambition displayed vividly. They feel like benedictions for the reader to absorb. It will be released on June 10th, 2025.
In a cross-country conversation, I discovered a kindred spirit, as I aspire to do what he does, making a positive difference in the world with the tools and talents I have.
Samuelson’s origin story is that of an immigrant from the UK, born in London who came to the US after earning a full ride scholarship to the prestigious Cambridge University where he graduated with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. He was inspired to seek higher education by a High School teacher named David Lund who invited young Peter to meet with him after class and told him that if he worked really hard, he could attend the best university.
Samuelson crossed the pond in the 1970s because, as he describes it, “It was a time of high unemployment and recession,” in his native land, and he has championed the American Dream ever since.
He became a film producer with some of his most notable cinematic successes including two period British films which won a lot of awards, “Wilde”. the biography of Oscar Wilde, “Tom and Viv” and Arlington Road.”
And then there is the less lofty “Revenge of the Nerds.”
Judaism is an important aspect of Samuelson’s life. It informs his desire to practice Tikkun Olam (repair of the world), Gemilut Hasadim (loving-kindness) and Tzedakah (righteousness and charity). He says, “It is how you put together a team to address a need or down an evil. My mother-in-law told me to read the work of Maimonides, who talks about the three layers of the human soul. “The top is N’shumah. It is a membership society of all the people who feel compelled to make the world a better place. When members meet for the first time, they recognize each other, they say “Hineni. Here I am.” My work is a work of hundreds of thousands of people all around the world over 40 years. You can’t build an aircraft without a myriad of engineers.”
Samuelson has a dizzying number of accomplishments. I wondered if he shakes his head in bewilderment, thinking, “That man is busy. When does he sleep?”
He responded, “One of the great gifts that I have been given is that I sleep very little, averaging 5 or 6 hours a night and not in one go. He has pad and paper next to the bed. He wrote the book by getting up and writing for one hour straight at 5am every day.
Samuelson became a philanthropist, or as he refers to himself as a ‘prosocial serial entrepreneur’ in a seemingly ‘meant to be’ manner and he tells a sweet and heart-rending story about a child in need.
“My cousin introduced me to a little British boy, Sean Honnoraty and his mom, Brenda. Sean was terminally ill, and his wish was to see Disneyland before he passed. We brought Brenda and Sean from London to the United States, and everyone, including my cousin, moved into my apartment. As a result of that, I pulled together a group of people and asked the question, “could we do this again?”
This resulted in the Starlight Children’s Foundation, now one of the largest and most active children’s charities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
“In 1990, I was introduced to Steven Spielberg for what was supposed to be a 20-minute meeting. Two hours later, we had decided that we would form a new charity, Starbright, to harness the power of the internet in helping seriously ill teenagers, and Steven offered a substantial donation. That was the beginning of Starbright World, which we later merged with Starlight.”
Sean went home and a few weeks later, he died. Samuelson felt sad but also realized that they had done something meaningful. He says that his leadership skills and filmmaker skills are symbiotic.
His book, called Finding Happy, contains the concept, ‘What I know now that I wish I knew when I was 18.” It is aimed at Gen Z (15–28-year-olds) “It is organized by topic and illustrated with vivid episodes from my checkered life as a film producer, immigrant and first of my family to earn a college degree. It is a guide to life, to teach and encourage solutions for all the challenges that afflict younger people.”
He defines happiness in this manner: “It’s not sitting on the couch eating a tub of chocolate ice cream. That is short term. Long term happiness is contentment and joy. It comes from finding purpose. Helping someone else. Good things come from exerting oneself in helping the life force.”
He spoke about the charity called First Star. “We house, educate, and encourage High School kids in foster care. We encourage them to make the best life that they can. 6% of foster kids go to college, but 89% of the students in our program go to college. He teaches a class called Random Acts of Kindness and Pay it Forward which includes two 90-minute classes that empower the foster youth to help others, thus gaining agency and personal self-esteem.”
Samuelson intends to donate his financial benefit from the book among the seven charities he has founded. He offers the Chinese curse. “May you live in interesting times.” He says “It is a little too interesting now. To be a young adult is confusing. What you thought was true, the government is telling you is not true. How do you find happy?” According to the book, you may need to pivot, revise and change direction. Bolster your own self-esteem. Find a mentor. Apply critical thinking to ask who is trying to exploit you and who is trying to help.
He says, “Finding Happy puts everything I have ever learned into a book to help young people. It is my gift to young people, about whom I care very much. They are our only future.”
Here are some of the charities Peter Samuelson has founded:
https://www.starlight.org/
https://www.firststar.org/
https://www.edar.org
To pre-order the book, click here.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
