Faces of Berkeley
Celebrity ‘Geek’ Takes Powers Of Transformation Global

After appearing on the third season of the CW’s Beauty and the Geek, former UC Berkeley doctoral student Niels Hoven said he’s on his way to making geek chic.

But despite being on the show, Hoven, who attended UC Berkeley until 2006, said he considers himself a dork, not a geek.

“I prefer ‘dork,’ really,” Hoven said. “A dork is academically capable, maybe socially awkward, but funny.”

Among Hoven’s numerous geeky accomplishments is his perfect score on the SAT.

“I can stack my ‘de-credentials’ so high that no one can see over them,” he said.

But even more than his many academic accomplishments, Hoven said his desire to change himself socially was what made him unique and landed him a spot on the show.

A former student in electrical engineering, Hoven said he has always had a hard time socially, adding that he found it difficult to maintain his existing relationships, let alone develop new ones.

Hoven abandoned his pursuit for a doctoral degree when he said he realized that he was going to school for the wrong reasons.

“I’ve decided to take a break from a Ph.D. ... Being locked in the house (on the show) away from the world for a while, it really gave me an opportunity to step back and take a look at what I was doing,” he said.

Since the end of the show’s taping six months ago, Hoven has worked around the globe as a dating coach for San Francisco-based PickUp 101, a company that aims to help men transform into more outgoing and sociable versions of themselves.

The company is currently planning to expand to Europe, where Hoven said he will be spending about a month making sales pitches for a workshop called “The Art of Attraction.”

The workshop aims to teach men the social skills they need to help them open up to others on a more emotional level.

“I’ve never had such a rewarding job. I’ve never had people so grateful to me,” Hoven said.

Hoven added that, for the most part, the workshop produces positive results.

“It’s really powerful and amazing to see the changes. We really do change people’s lives,” Hoven said.

Hoven said his own life-changing experiences began while he was a student at UC Berkeley, when a classmate helped him realize he was not devoting enough time to his social life.

“I grew up with a lot of walls built around me. Not just with girls, but with friends,” Hoven said.

Since being on the show, Hoven said he has devoted much of his free time to making his social life and relationships a priority in his life.

As a result, he has become closer to his family and friends, who have been very supportive of him, he said.

He also maintains an online blog that attracts approximately 1,000 visitors a day and on which he posts show updates and dating advice.

“I’m really learning to transform myself socially, and I’ve been continually working really hard on that,” he said.

Hoven added that contrary to public opinion, his social life is not something that is beyond his control.

“I think anybody who really wants change can do it. I think the problem is most people don’t really want it,” he said.

Tags: