My Story.
background + education
I grew up in Oxnard, California — a coastal town where both sides of my family have deep roots. My wholly Catholic education was built around service, stewardship, and social justice. That early formation wired me to use my talents and expertise for something bigger than myself.
At UC Berkeley, I majored in English. I have always felt safest in a classroom — the robust discussion, the buzz of questions and curiousity — so much that I decided to become a teacher, just to keep the conversation going.
career beginnings
I taught high school English in the Bay Area, where I hoped to return the gift of a thoughtful learning environment to my own students.
In 2008, my husband and I moved to Las Vegas, and I answered a Craigslist ad for a company called Zappos. What started as data entry became content operations at scale: I built and managed a 20-person catalog team, hiring half of them myself. Same lesson across every role: when the infrastructure is right, the content works. When it isn't, nothing does.
now
After years of stepping back — to raise a family, to prioritize my health, to figure out what I actually had to say — I'm writing, not for someone else's platform or brand but for my own.
My daughter is heading to college next fall so it's time for me to stop avoiding what I've dreamt about and know I can do. The writing is here, and more is on the way. This is the part of the story where the narrator finally gets to write it.
