For years, my professional life has been dedicated to leadership, service, and building meaningful connections. I’ve led diverse teams—often in STEM-focused organizations—through complex transitions and ambitious projects. My work with associations and nonprofits has centered on creating and nurturing communities, where I’ve seen how connection can transform lives. Supporting cancer patients and their families through my work with the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation taught me the profound impact of showing up for others. Through all of this, I’ve witnessed how giving back not only creates meaningful change, it also replenishes our own sense of purpose.

My experience in meeting planning, community building, association and nonprofit leadership, and team development has shaped how I approach every project, every client, and every initiative. Becoming an entrepreneur allowed me to bring all of these skills together to create businesses that serve others in deeply personal ways.

Profound grief and unexpected challenges shape my personal journey. I’ve experienced the heartbreak of four miscarriages, the uncertainty of living with chronic pain, and the life-altering diagnosis of well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma, a rare cancer with no established path forward. I’ve had to navigate the unknown and create my own way forward. During this time, I thought my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur were out of reach. I came to realize that my dreams weren’t gone—they were evolving.

Through all of this, travel was my lifeline. It gave me the space to step outside of the heaviness, to reconnect with myself and my family, and to find moments of joy even in the midst of uncertainty. I learned how to integrate travel into life, even during the hardest seasons.

Travel didn’t erase the challenges I was facing. It gave me clarity, perspective, and the strength to keep moving forward. This realization became the inspiration for Engage! Travel Co., where my team and I help clients craft travel experiences that go beyond itineraries. We focus on designing moments that inspire connection, growth, and lifelong memories.

As I continued to grow, I realized that travel was never just about the destinations—it was about how we navigate life’s challenges and transitions. This led me to create Travel with Life, a philosophy and platform that brings together everything I’ve learned and experienced. Travel with Life combines my professional background in leadership, my personal journey with grief and chronic pain, my work with fellow cancer patients, my passion for community building, and my entrepreneurial spirit. It is rooted in the belief that life isn’t about reaching a final destination—it is about how we respond to the journey. Travel with Life is about saying yes to the opportunities that arise, finding joy in the small moments, and using travel as a tool for connection, reflection, and growth.

This mindset is why I approach life with a “yes, and” philosophy—a lesson I carry from my background in theatre and the fundamentals of improv. In improv, saying “yes, and” keeps the story moving forward, opening up new possibilities, and allowing the scene to evolve. This principle guides how I lead teams, serve clients, and approach every challenge. It is about embracing what is and building on it to create something meaningful.

Through Travel with Life, I bring together all the threads of my journey to help others navigate their own. Whether it’s through personal retreat coaching, group retreat planning, building a supportive community and more, my goal is to inspire others to embrace life’s detours, find strength in connection, and create opportunities to thrive. Life is a journey, and how we choose to travel through it makes all the difference.

My work is infused with a commitment to lead and serve with gratitude.