I didn't choose this work — it found me. What started as a curiosity about people and a desire to solve problems creatively has grown into a practice built around one core belief: everyone has ability and a right to dream, and every dream is possible with the right support.

Growing up in a military family, I called South Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Key West, Cordova Alaska, Texas, and New York home before the Pacific Northwest became mine 18 years ago. Moving that often teaches you something profound about belonging — and about what it costs when you don't have it. That experience quietly became the foundation of everything I do.

My path into disability services found me through the people I was managing who needed accommodations, through family members navigating neurodiversity and mental health, and through my own experience as a neurodiverse thinker. Living with executive function challenges and navigating concussion recovery taught me firsthand what it means to need cognitive support — and deepened my commitment to designing systems and experiences that work for every kind of mind.

In 2022, graphic recording entered my life as a natural extension of my art background — and an intentional embrace of discomfort. Walking into that training, I found myself in a room full of people who think like I do for the first time. It changed everything about how I understood my work.

That same year, a simple but powerful idea took root: find what you love and do it often. That principle — the power of OFTEN — became the foundation of everything that followed. Gather Often. Create Often. Advance Often. What started as a personal philosophy about living with intention evolved into the Often Framework, and ultimately into SHINE Co. — a practice designed to help others find their own version of often.

Today, SHINE Co. brings together everything I am — visual artist, strategic thinker, coach, facilitator, and curious human — into a practice designed to help individuals and organizations find clarity, build belonging, and move forward with confidence.

When I'm not working, you'll find me in my art studio, at a live music venue, exploring the Pacific Northwest, or somewhere on a long road trip in our adventure van with my partner of 20 years. My family is scattered across Arizona, New York, and Montana — we're all nomadic at heart.