We were lucky to catch up with Alexander Ziwahatan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alexander, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My parents always taught me to never give up. Throughout my life, I’ve faced moments where it would have been easy to walk away. Instead, I chose to use those experiences as fuel. Resilience, for me, isn’t about pretending things are easy. It’s about looking at the obstacle, taking a breath, and saying: ‘I’m not done yet.’ Every success in my life—whether in service, business, or leadership—has come from that mindset. Over time, I’ve learned that grit and adaptability are the real foundation for building anything meaningful.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m a 7th-generation Oregonian, and my roots in this state run deep. My first real job was picking blueberries in Lorane at 15, followed by cleaning shoes, ushering at a theater, caregiving, and eventually working for the State of Oregon. Those experiences shaped my belief that Oregon can be a place where people don’t just survive, but thrive.
Today, I wear three hats: I’m the founder of Omnithion, an IP Think Tank; I’m running as a candidate for Governor of Oregon; and I’m a caregiver for people with disabilities. My company Omnithion pushes me to think at the scale of trillion-dollar industries, and encourages me to file patents. At present, I have 32 patents-pending, ranging from orbital debris capture to global energy redistribution.
What makes this different is how it ties to my candidacy. I believe Oregon can eliminate income and property taxes by replacing them with sovereign revenue streams from innovation and advanced industries. To back that vision, I recently offered the State of Oregon 49% ownership of my IP portfolio so Oregon can lead in shaping the future.
For me, it all comes down to service, innovation, and legacy.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, three qualities have been the most impactful in my journey: resilience, adaptability, and vision.
Resilience has carried me through setbacks. Whether it was facing personal challenges or being underestimated, I learned that resilience isn’t about ignoring the difficulty — it’s about refusing to quit. My advice is to practice seeing obstacles as fuel instead of walls.
Adaptability has been just as important. My path has taken me from farm fields and caregiving to inventing and public service. Each step required me to learn something new and reinvent myself. For anyone starting out, don’t cling to a rigid idea of what your journey “should” look like. The ability to pivot is a strength, not a weakness.
Finally, vision is what ties it all together. You need a sense of where you’re going, even if the path there changes. Vision isn’t about predicting every detail — it’s about holding onto a purpose that motivates you. My advice is to ask yourself not just what you’re working toward, but why. That clarity will guide you through the noise.
Together, resilience, adaptability, and vision have been my compass. They’re skills anyone can build — by showing up, learning, and daring to see further.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
If I knew I only had a decade left, I would spend it in service and creation. For me, that means three things: caring for people, building systems that outlast me, and spending time with those I love.
I would double down on innovation, pushing forward patents and ideas that could shape industries and protect future generations. And I would continue to devote myself fully to Oregon, working to put the state at the forefront of economic and technological leadership so the next generation inherits a stronger foundation.
But beyond all of that, I would spend time with family, with my husband, and with my dogs. At the end of life, titles and inventions matter less than love, service, and legacy. My hope would be to leave behind both — a personal legacy of care and a public legacy of systems and ideas that make life better long after I’m gone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.Omnithion.org
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziwahatan/
- Twitter: https://x.com/AlexZiwahatan
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