1995 - 2013: I was born and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.

2013 - 2017: Upon going to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career and struggled sticking to a degree path. I ended up changing my major six times and attended three different universities over the span of four years. After leaving Northern Michigan University, and then University of Illinois, I ventured out west to Sierra Nevada University on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Here I was introduced the world of outdoor adventure -- I learned to backpack, rock climb, river guide, sea kayak, and more -- which huge impact on my self-confidence and mindset towards life.

During this stretch of time at SNU, I paddled 10 days on the Rogue River in Oregon, solo thru-hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail over two weeks, rafted and paddled for three weeks through the Utah desert, solo-backpacked the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne in Yosemite, worked as a lifeguard and ski liftie, and helped guide student backpacking trips. I graduated with a degree in Journalism and Outdoor Adventure Leadership.

2017: I flew to Thailand a day after graduation to get my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification and become a foreign English teacher. I landed a job in Chiang Mai for a private language academy and taught English to college students and adults. In my free time, I got scuba certified in Koh Tao and lead climbing certified in Krabi.

2018: I returned back to the US, homesick and craving a sense of belonging. With pressure from my parents to get a "real job", I applied and was accepted into a phlebotomy training program at a nearby hospital, but dropped out 4 days before the program. I instead found work as a wilderness therapy guide at a program based in southwest Colorado.

I worked as a wilderness therapy guide, doing possibly the most challenging and enlightening work I've ever done. I learned a lot about communication and emotional intelligence through fellow guides and alongside students.

One my time off that summer, I solo-backpacked the Collegiate Peaks Loop in Colorado.

I eventually came to the conclusion that my love for the outdoors soured when trying to turn it into a career. I left my job as a wilderness therapy guide and decided to pursue a skill that would grant me the money and flexibility to do the things I loved, like travel and outdoor adventure, without turning them into obligations.

So, I taught myself to code. After a month of self-teaching and taking free online courses, I decided there was enough potential and interest to see it through. I attended a coding bootcamp in Utah to fast-track the process, wanting the accountability and structure of a physical program. The bootcamp was a fantastic experience and one of the best decisions I've ever made. I wanted to learn to code as a means to an end to achieve my desired lifestyle, and in the process I discovered a totally untapped passion for technology and innovation. Reflecting years later, I still love the outdoors and travel, but life would feel like it's missing a piece without work that's technically challenging and interesting.

2019: I graduated from the coding bootcamp, networked like crazy, landed a short-term internship at a local startup and then a full-time job at American Express in Phoenix, AZ. For months, I went out of my way to pick up extra skills and projects at my new job, eventually catching the attention of and landing a role on the Enterprise Architecture platform team.

A few months after starting my career at Amex, I began struggling with debilitating chronic back pain. I chalked it up to sitting too much, but wouldn't discover the culprit (or the solution) until years later.

2020: Covid hit, work went remote, and my digital nomad era began. I left Phoenix, moved back home for a bit, then spent several months living out of airbnbs in Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Washington. I eventually settled in Seattle in the fall and took a new software job at a 5-person startup.

Seattle was lonely. With a new city, pandemic lock downs, rainy winter weather and a remote job, the level of isolation was painful.

2021: I left Seattle and began living out of a suitcase in Latin America, traveling with the remote-work-travel company, Wifi Tribe. I surfed in Costa Rica, (attempted to) mountaineer in Bolivia, and trekked in Peru.

Though travel injected plenty of fun and novelty into life, I craved working on a product I felt personally invested in. I discovered Levels Health (a biowearables startup focused on promoting metabolic health and preventing chronic disease through nutrition and lifestyle) through a tech podcast and immediately applied, writing the most heartfelt and passion-filled cover letter known to humankind. I joined the team in August.

2022: I returned from abroad and settled in Colorado, wanting to focus on work, healthy routines, and establishing a sense of community.

It didn't last too long -- after a trip with my mom to backpack the Lost Coast Trail in May, I felt revitalized by outdoor adventure and impulsively bought a teardrop trailer and live/work out of. I boondocked on BLM land in Colorado, Utah, and California throughout the summer, squeezing hiking and biking adventures around projects and meetings.

I returned back to Colorado in the fall. Increasing chronic back pain made it difficult to stay sedentary and be productive at a desk. A coworker recommended Dr. John Sarno's book (Healing Back Pain), which sent me down the path of mind-body connection work and drastically changed my life.

2023: After 3 years of seeing physical therapists, spine specialists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists, getting x-rays and MRIs, and constantly stretching and strengthening to no avail, 95% of my chronic back pain went away. How? Through consistent journaling (yes, journaling!) and airing my feelings out on paper. Nicole Sachs' Cure for Chronic Pain Podcast played a big role.

While I loved working at Levels, I wanted more human interaction during the workday and struggled with their fully asynchronous model of working, especially while being new to Denver and still building a community here. I left Levels Health in pursuit of a hybrid software role in Denver, thinking it would be a better fit.

2024: After nearly a year of working at this new company, I left. Even though this startup was not a good fit, I left on good terms and with a clearer vision of what's important for me to stay engaged and do my best work at future companies. How do colleagues collaborate with one another? Are conversations candid or political? Does the leadership team believe in giving teams trust and autonomy, or do they struggle releasing control? Is experimentation, feedback and iteration championed or ignored? Is the work technically interesting and varied, or is it rote?

Rather than jump straight into another job, I decided to take a break from my tech career and focus on personal pursuits for a while.

Throughout winter and spring, I channeled my inner ski bum and spent over 45 days skiing at IKON resorts. My 29th birthday was spent off the grid on a 9-day canoe trip down the Green River in Utah with my mom, followed by a month of volunteering on an organic farm through the WWOOF platform. I learned to mountain bike in June, and in late July, I finished an 11-day high route backpacking trip in Yosemite. A week after returning from Yosemite, I decided that backpacking the entire Colorado Trail would be an excellent final "hoorah" before shifting back into tech career mode. I planned out my trip itinerary and food resupply stops in a week and hit the trail mid-August. 29 days and 491 miles later, I finished in Durango and am officially a Colorado Trail thru-hiker!

What I'm doing now

At the time of writing this (late September 2024), the outdoor itch has been thoroughly scratched and I'm transitioning back into home routines and job search mode. I do truly miss working on interesting technical things as part of a team! I'm actively looking for software engineer and solutions engineer roles at Denver-based and remote tech companies.