David Rogier

David Rogier grew up in Los Angeles, California where he became known for two things: entrepreneurship (he sold his first company, an Internet search engine, while still in middle school), and asking too many questions in class. At Washington University in St. Louis, David majored in Political Science and Political Economy, and produced a popular interview show on a college network called 23 Minutes (although it often ran longer).

David was recruited by British retailer Tesco to launch their first stores in the U.S., and worked in supply chain management where he focused on increasing the flow of healthy food to lower income neighborhoods. After Tesco, David attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he met renowned tech investor Michael Dearing, whom he went to work for after graduation. After a year with Michael, David decided what he really wanted to do was rekindle his two favorite pastimes from his youth: entrepreneurship and question-asking, by starting MasterClass (Michael became his first investor).

The idea behind MasterClass came from a story David’s gramma told him when he was young. He had just gotten home from school and was complaining to her about homework when she shared a story he’d never forget. When she was a young girl in Poland, she took a family vacation with her mom. Her dad stayed behind to catch up on work (he was supposed to come join them). A week into their trip, the Nazi’s invaded Poland. They destroyed her home and killed her father. His gramma fled to America and got a job in a factory. She applied to over 20 medical schools and got rejected from every single one. She applied again the next year. Got rejected from all of them. She started calling the deans of admissions asking why. One was honest with her. He told her she has three strikes against her: she is a woman, she is a foreigner, and she is Jewish. She tried again and was accepted into New York Medical College. She went on to become a pediatrician. She ended the story with: education isthe one thing in life that no one can ever take away from you.

David is now the CEO and Co-Founder of MasterClass, where he is leading the company’s re-imagination of online education. Based in San Francisco, MasterClass was founded on the idea that everyone should have “access to genius.” The premier online education platform provides affordable, engaging, and inspirational online classes taught by world-renowned instructors, making it possible for anyone to learn from the best. Each class offers a unique learning experience which includes video lessons, interactive exercises, a series of course materials, peer interaction, and more. Enrollment in each class is $90, or for just $180 per year students can receive unlimited access to all new and existing MasterClasses with the MasterClass All-Access Pass.

MasterClass’ current roster of courses includes:

Culinary: Gordon Ramsay (cooking), Alice Waters (home cooking), Thomas Keller (cooking technique), Wolfgang Puck (cooking)

Music: Armin van Buuren (dance music), Christina Aguilera (singing), Usher (performance), Reba McEntire (country music), Herbie Hancock (jazz), Deadmau5 (music production), Hans Zimmer (film scoring)

Filmmaking, Acting, and Comedy: Werner Herzog (filmmaking), Martin Scorsese (filmmaking), Ron Howard (directing), Helen Mirren (acting), Dustin Hoffman (acting), Samuel L. Jackson (acting), Steve Martin (comedy)

Writing: James Patterson (writing), Aaron Sorkin (screenwriting), Shonda Rhimes (writing for television), David Mamet (dramatic writing), Bob Woodward (investigative journalism), Judy Blume (writing)

Design, Photography, and Fashion: Annie Leibovitz (photography), Frank Gehry (design and architecture), Diane von Furstenberg (how to build a fashion brand), Marc Jacobs (fashion design)

Sports and Games: Serena Williams (tennis), Stephen Curry (shooting, ball-handling, and scoring), Garry Kasparov (chess)

Science and Technology: Jane Goodall (conservation)