Raised in a California beach town to a Japanese mother and Jewish-American father, Phil first fell in love with spoken word poetry at age 17. Since then, he has performed in hundreds of venues in fifteen countries. His work has been viewed online over five million times and featured in media outlets ranging from NPR to Al Jazeera America to Upworthy.com. Most recently, Phil was invited to perform alongside His Holiness The Dalai Lama for the celebration of his 80th birthday.