With just seconds left on the shot clock, six teammates are surging through the water as the ball arcs toward the goal—the crowd rises with a roar, and a sharp whistle pierces the air.
For Toby Espinosa ’12 and Cyrus Mojdehi ’13, exhilarating water polo moments like this defined their Brown experience. Not only because of the number of hours they spent treading water in the pool, but because of the lessons and lifelong friendships that the varsity sport gave them.
They may not have known it at the time, but with every match, they were building skills that would transform them into the business leaders—and philanthropists—that they are today.
Building lifelong friendships and memories as teammates
Espinosa and Mojdehi both came to College Hill from California. Like many student-athletes, bonding with teammates was a meaningful way for them to make fast friends in a new place.
“The team was an immediate source of comfort and family,” says Mojdehi. “It meant a lot to be able to start school with a strong group of friends that were highly motivated, had a lot of the same interests, and just really took care of each other.”
“We’d get back to campus on Sunday afternoons after a weekend of tournaments, and the whole crew would slowly walk over to SciLi or the Rock,” Espinosa remembers. “You’d have to study for eight hours, get up the next day, and do it all over again. It gave us a real sense of camaraderie, and helped build a strong work ethic.”
These two alums have seen Brown’s varsity water polo resources come a long way—during their time on campus, there wasn’t even a home pool for the team to use. After the Smith Swim Center was closed in 2007, teams practiced in a temporary aquatics center—known as “the bubble” because of its inflatable dome—with an above-ground pool that wasn’t quite regulation size. With no home games, they had to spend a lot of time on the road every weekend.
When Brown’s Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center opened in early 2012—providing the Bears with another Olympic-sized pool—it was a game-changer. Mojdehi even took a semester off, delaying graduation, so he’d have a chance to use it.
“It was really special to be the first group in there,” he says. “It took our training to the next level and fostered a new sense of community. We were always proud to represent the University, but it was such a different experience being in a real facility. It was definitely worth staying for.”
Carrying lessons from water polo into careers and philanthropy
Fast forward just over a decade, and these two Brunonians are both far from College Hill pursuing successful careers. Espinosa is DoorDash’s vice president of ads, after joining the company in San Francisco as one of their first employees. Mojdehi took an entrepreneurial path in North Carolina—he’s co-founder of Wickenden Partners and president of Northway Homes, which he co-founded with Daniel Hirschberg ’15, who played varsity tennis at Brown.
Both Espinosa and Mojdehi credit playing on a varsity team during college as the foundation of their early professional success. The grit, discipline, resilience, and teamwork they honed in the pool continues to run deep in their lives today.
“Water polo absolutely set me up for the career I’ve had at DoorDash,” says Espinosa. “It gave me a little bit of chip on my shoulder that has made me who I am.”
“My willingness to tolerate risk and the potential pain that comes with entrepreneurship—that all came from water polo,” explains Mojdehi. “When you had to get out of bed at 6 a.m. and it’s 20 degrees outside. Or the way we’d prepare before a big game—I will never forget those moments, because there’s no better feeling than being as prepared as possible and then seeing the end result. I wouldn’t have this much success at this point in my life without my Brown water polo experience.”
