Essem is a senior technologist at the National Basketball Association (NBA), managing complex, high-risk software projects for the league's blockchain, spatial computing, and 3D visualization and game recreation workstreams. His track record includes establishing a successful product research team at Major League Baseball (MLB) and contributing to the launch of several high-revenue mobile games at Scopely. Before starting life in product development, he spent four years as a quantitative analyst and modeler for Democratic Party political campaigns. Outside of the NBA, Essem serves as co-chairperson of the Metaverse Standards Forum's Digital Asset Management (DAM) committee and studies the philosophy and history of technology at the City University of New York--Graduate Center. Essem lives on the Upper West Side in NYC with his dog, Elengnaw Ruffsevelt.