"Some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny." - C.S. Lewis

Revealing the Patterns

Understanding my story has revealed a series of formative moments and recurring roles that, over time, began to form a coherent pattern. From the beginning, those moments were quietly forming the foundation for the mission that would later come into focus. Many of these experiences were marked by contradiction, disruption, and uncertainty. At the time, they often felt random or unnecessary. With distance and reflection, they now read as preparation.

Life has required evolution and transformation. Some chapters were messy. Some roles felt short-lived or ill-fitting. Yet when examined together, those experiences reveal a consistent throughline: a growing ability to understand systems, confront injustice, work with emerging tools, and create environments where people can live into the power of their story.

What follows is not a resume, but a record of formation.

1987–1992 | Curiosity and Systems

Science, Technology, Exploration

At age eleven, I moved to Reston, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. During those years, I spent countless hours at the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. I built rockets and model planes, dismantled electronics, and immersed myself in science and aviation. This was my first sustained exposure to complex systems and how curiosity, design, and experimentation shape the world, a theme that would return repeatedly in later work.

1992–1993 | Confronting Power and Exclusion

Identity, Institutions, Racism

While attending the Virginia Military Institute as a biology major and Marine Corps NROTC cadet, I aspired to become a fighter pilot. When an astigmatism ended that path, I pivoted toward dentistry. At the same time, I encountered racism in ways that were both historic and immediate. That season exposed how institutions transmit power, memory, and harm, and how dignity can be stripped when systems go unexamined. It sharpened my awareness of how design choices carry moral weight.

1994 | Criminalization and Injustice

Policing, Consequence

During Black Spring Break in Daytona Beach, Florida, I was arrested after instinctively defending myself during an aggressive crowd-control incident. Though the charges were later dropped, the experience followed me for years and shaped how institutions perceived me and how I navigated professional spaces. It was an early lesson in how systems can punish without accountability.

1997–1998 | Education and Inequity

Science, Children, Teaching

After college, I postponed dental school and began teaching science at a high school in Detroit. I discovered a deep love for teaching and saw firsthand how access, income, and stability shape educational outcomes. Though I eventually left the classroom, education became a permanent part of my calling.

1998–1999 | Learning Business from the Inside

Operations, Enterprise

I entered a management trainee program that rotated me through finance, operations, HR, creative services, customer support, sales, and warehousing. This experience revealed how organizations actually function and sparked a lasting fascination with business as a system.

2003 | Technology as Leverage

Programming, Imagination

Exposure to early web programming and the possibilities of personalized, location-based technology reshaped my understanding of scale. I began to see technology as leverage: a way to rapidly build, test, and distribute new ideas.

2009–2013 | Startup Formation

Technology, Business, Scale

I founded and led multiple technology startups, learning how to build products, pivot under pressure, and scale ideas through accelerator-backed growth. This season sharpened my understanding of iteration, risk, and execution, skills that would later be applied beyond technology into education, community, and civic systems.

2011 | Global Perspective

Faith, Children, Justice

Time spent working with children orphaned by civil war in Sierra Leone reframed my priorities. Witnessing the long-term impact of violence and poverty clarified that my skills needed to be oriented toward justice and human flourishing.

2012–2015 | Story as Entry Point

Education, Technology, Healing

Through volunteer and later enterprise-based education programs, I discovered that storytelling and creative expression were often the gateway to learning, healing, and engagement. Coding and technology became tools, not the starting point.

2016 | Purpose Articulated

“To help children find and fearlessly move into the power of their unique story.”

2017–2020 | Building Platforms for Story and Belonging

Community, Entrepreneurship, Place

By 2017, the throughline of my work had become unmistakable, and multiple strands of my earlier experiences began converging into a more integrated form. I began stewarding relationship-centered platforms designed to hold complexity and scale.