Interview with Matthew Kaufman
Matthew Kaufman · March 10, 2026
Interview with Matthew Kaufman
Podcast: Us People Podcast
March 10, 2026 · 43 min
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About Matthew Kaufman
Camp Director and Author Exploring the Neuroscience Behind What Makes Camp Transformative
40 years Summer camp experience2 Books authoredAmazon bestseller The Campfire EffectValedictorian Cornell master's programme
Matt Kaufman has spent most of his life at summer camp, but not because he lacked options. In school, things came easily. He moved quickly through classes and eventually graduated from Cornell University with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, finishing his master’s program as valedictorian. Camp was different. He was the quiet kid who had to push himself to talk to people, try things that felt uncomfortable, and work through everyday conflicts in a place where no one cared about grades. That early contrast—school rewarding his mind and camp reshaping his whole self—never left him.
As he moved into the Summer Camp industry and eventually became Director at Camp Ramaquois outside New York City, he began to see the same pattern play out in thousands of young people. A child or staff member would arrive one version of themselves and, little by little, become someone steadier, braver, and more connected. The change was consistent enough that Matt found himself asking what was underneath it: what exactly is happening at camp—socially, emotionally, and in the brain—that helps people grow in such reliable ways?
His first book, The Summer Camp MBA, explored that question in the context of leadership, showing how bunk life teaches teamwork in ways most workplaces struggle to create.
About this episode
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Engineering Belonging: Camp Leadership, Legacy, and the Power of Words with Matt Kaufman
Host Savia Rocks welcomes Matt, a camp director and author, to season seven of the Us People Podcast to discuss purpose, judgment, legacy, and building community. Matt shares growing up in diverse Rockland County near Manhattan with teacher parents who emphasized lifelong learning and summer camp as education. He reflects on insecurities, self-forgiveness, and how camp challenged him socially despite an engineering background.
Matt explains that directing a day camp is like running a small city in summer and a year-round business the rest of the year, involving logistics, staffing, sales, and problem-solving. He describes a typical summer day, misconceptions about the job, influential English teachers, mentors who hired him despite being introverted, and advice about expanding impact through leadership. He defines success as leaving things better, describes peace after his daughter’s birth, would eliminate social media algorithms, and highlights belonging as camp’s key lesson.
He shares his 9/11 near-miss, recommends intentional communities, defines legacy through how staff treat children, and promotes his books The Summer Camp MBA and The Campfire Effect plus his website and LinkedIn.
00:00 Legacy and Healing
01:10 Season Seven Welcome
02:25 Growing Up and Learning
04:08 Phones vs Reading
04:55 Mirror and Self Forgiveness
07:12 What Camp Directors Do
10:09 Choosing Purpose Over Pay
12:01 Alone With Thoughts
14:04 A Day at Camp
18:40 Misconceptions and Off Season
22:38 Words Have Power
23:17 Regret and Words
23:35 Teachers and Literature
24:39 Getting a Chance
25:55 Leadership Advice
27:32 Living Beyond Judgment
29:14 Desert Island Picks
31:03 Defining Success and Peace
32:29 Power and Social Media
33:22 Fate and 9 11
35:46 Belonging and Legacy
38:26 Books and Where to Find Matt
40:09 Closing Thanks and Outro
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjkaufman/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattlovescamp
Website: https://www.ilove.camp/
Thank you so much Matt, for showing us that simplicity of togetherness really does count.
In life we forget to ask the question that really count - Savia Rocks
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