a piece of my story

I grew up with a passion for bringing people together. From organizing recess as a kid to managing nightlife venues before I could drink, my excitement was always in finding better places, systems, and technologies for repeating shared experiences. I studied communication, marketing, and anthropology, beginning my career in Chicago in live events, venue operations, and short form media. The city and its momentum kept my attention for a few years, but the world was changing fast, and I wanted to keep up. I immersed myself in social sciences and storytelling, found new tools, followed trends, and doubled down on the future of tech.

I eventually committed to the field of design as a way of solving complex problems. To me, it was the fastest way through the mess I could feel was coming. Throughout my twenties, I traveled the world and saw some 40+ countries. I met communities of impact and got involved in their missions. I met friends and fell in love often. I stayed connected, pursued purpose, and worked on projects I could have never imagined - every day I was grateful for my life.

By 2014, there was a pulse forming as an early economy was being born around shared experiences and immersive entertainment. Simultaneously, social platforms, coordination tools, spatial computing, ai, and numerous other exponential technologies were hitting the market. I was definitely in the middle of a new wild west. It was time to strap in and find the others.

From 2016 to 2020, I co-created two companies and devoted as much time as I could towards how we could harness these intersecting markets of shared experience, technology, and media. The loneliness epidemic, as it came known to be in our little circle, was increasing quickly around the world. Each cell phone and social media news feed seemed to be shattering a clear sense of the world, and all signs pointed to Facebook, disinformation, and the attention economy. Just a few years into our collaborative efforts across projects and companies, a pandemic would slam right into the side of the ship. I watched as the live experiences, media, and hospitality industries collapsed in an instant. Half of my friends, including myself, lost our companies and our work.

These are my first public words since 2019. Over the past few years, many allies have been quietly developing new systems for coordination and interoperability between locations, and communities, technology and innovation, creativity and art. It’s nice to be resurfacing in such beautiful company. Consider this the raise of my flag, ready to get back on the water - together. I believe it starts at the local level and we all must play a part. I’m excited to keep rowing alongside such incredible humans.