Michael Bruno has been recognized as a visionary by the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the city’s only museum devoted to skilled making. In this short introduction, he shares the personal path that shaped his way of seeing the world and creating the life he imagined.
He grew up in Larchmont, New York, on the Long Island Sound, in a family that ran a restaurant across generations. His mother was a nurse, his father studied accounting, and together they raised six children in a warm home filled with love and compassion. Although his family was not wealthy by today’s standards, he remembers a childhood rich in care, community, and possibility.
Swimming became an early refuge. He learned to swim so his parents could enjoy tennis and time at the club without worry, and the pool quickly became his happy place. Laps felt meditative, giving him space to dream. He imagined a brick home like the one he lives in now, and he also dreamed of competing in the Olympics in the 50-meter breaststroke. That dream took him as far as a Junior Olympics gold medal and a new state record before the U.S. withdrew from the Moscow Games in 1980.
His family later moved west, first to Colorado and then to California. In Colorado, life on the edge of town included horses, a vegetable garden, rabbits, chickens, and lambs. Riding was part of daily life, and he learned to ride fearlessly on a Quarter Horse named Azule. Through 4-H, he and his siblings also raised lambs for the state fair. One of his lambs, Wolley, even recovered from a serious injury before going on to win first prize and Reserve Grand Champion at the Colorado State Fair.
After the family settled on the Central Coast of California, Michael eventually made his way to San Diego for college. There, while studying at San Diego State University and working at Nordstrom, he read Think and Grow Rich on the beach in La Jolla and began consciously shaping his future through his thoughts. From that moment on, he set ambitious goals, including earning a real estate license and building a billion-dollar company. That vision eventually became 1stdibs, which went public on the Nasdaq in 2018.
He later launched the Think Rain campaign during a severe drought in the 1980s, using T-shirts and bumper stickers to raise awareness and funds. A spontaneous trip to Sacramento led to an on-the-spot trademark approval from Secretary of State March Fong Eu, and soon after, the rains returned. The story was later recreated in Think and Grow Rich: The Legacy.
Today, Michael lives in the lower Hudson Valley in Tuxedo Park, New York, and spends summers on an island in Maine. He also created Valley Rock Inn in Sloatsburg, where 17 rundown buildings were transformed into an inn, market, gallery, and two restaurants. The project received New York State’s Pillar of New York award for historic preservation, and in 2024, The Ranch Malibu will open its East Coast outpost there.
His spiritual life deepened in his 20s, first through A Course in Miracles and later through meditation in Egypt. For Michael, spirituality means faith, compassion, and an understanding that consciousness is eternal. He believes our dominant thoughts shape our experience, and he sees science as increasingly affirming that connection.
That belief inspired him to create Happy Time, an app he describes as a GPS for your thoughts. Free of ads and server scanning, it is designed as a private space to help people stay focused on the thoughts they want to generate. His mission now is to spread happiness, one person at a time.
Warm regards,
Michael Bruno