Mike Porath was born in Cleveland, OH and studied English at the College of William and Mary. He followed his passion for broadcast journalism to New York where he worked for ABCNews, eventually focusing on ABCNews.com. He won an award for Online Journalism for his coverage of Kosovo, an assignment for which he was the sole team member on the ground. He moved to NBC where he worked on the Tom Brokaw Show and MSNBC.com. He shifted to the New York Times where he was involved on both the print side and managing the Home Page for NewYorkTimes.com. He spent a few months living in and reporting from Saudi Arabia, after losing some friends during 9/11. Upon his return to the US, he worked for AOL and then moved to Los Angeles to manage 30 digital properties for a start-up called SpinMedia. After grappling with a health issue for his daughter, Mike launched an online platform enabling families to interact with other families facing similar health issues, called The Mighty.