Hello

For almost a decade, I worked in corporate financial planning for Macy’s, Modell’s, Ross, and the now defunct Hecht’s/Strawbridge’s Department Stores. I spent a number of years living and working in New York City. But by the time I had worked my last corporate position, I began to feel worn out, waking up exhausted and physically ill every single day at the thought of going to my job. Work no longer satisfied me but I felt like there were no other options that would allow me to have financial stability. My body was telling me that I was unhappy and I was having a tough time listening to it. I felt disconnected from my mind, body, and spirit. At that point, I got my yoga teaching license and was looking for a career path that would allow me to connect deeply with others and help them achieve the paths they wanted to go on in their own lives. I found myself in Juneau, Alaska with my family through my partner’s job and reached out to all the people I knew who were in the helping profession. I was trying to figure out what my best options were. Social work made the most sense to me because it was about meeting people where they were at the time and then helping them to achieve autonomy and empowerment to get to where they wanted to go and not just where others, or even I, thought they should be. So I went back to school while working as a Personal Assistant for my dear friend Chris Grabenstein. And for the past several years I have been working to ensure that those who have traditionally been silent have a voice.