“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.”

– Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

Most of what makes me who I am is credited to the wonderful people I call family, both blood and chosen. Taught to work hard, walk away when necessary, and to take care of others, my sisters and I learned from our upbringing in Ohio that community is important. Life taught me that community is healing.

The world continues to make me who I am, and that started with traveling adventures. Experiencing places away from home broadened my perspective and led to a deep understanding of people from all walks of life. It introduced me to a whole lot of the fun and a few passions that I believe everyone should find too.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do as a career with the many things I was interested in, but I knew one thing: people. I already loved people, and connecting with them was something I did, a lot. Someone once said that I could talk to a tree and it would talk back. (I hope that was a compliment…) So a career where I could talk to people AND live different lives every day? Become a therapist! Through the therapy journey, I found leadership as a bigger way on a bigger scale to help people.

And life is usually better with a dog.