How I got to where I am

As long as I can remember I've had an innate curiosity about how things work. At first this manifested in dismantling any and all electronics I could get my hands on in order to take a look inside. You name it, coffee makers, vacuum cleaners, computers, they were all at risk of being broken down into their various components when I was around. Over time this morphed into wanting to fix things and even build my own devices. For a time in middle & high school I ran a computer repair & assembling business, and even ended up teaching a computer construction class at my school.

I attended the University of Michigan for undergrad and obviously ended up in the engineering school. I had a limited background with computer programming and it wasn't until I took the intro to programming class required of all engineering students that I realized how much I liked it. In addition to majoring in Computer Science I obtained a Minor in Economics and a certificate in Entrepreneurship.

After graduation I got a job at Microsoft and worked on a variety of products from Azure to Bing Ads (known as Microsoft Advertising these days) and a consumer facing product called the Microsoft Shopping Assistant.

Six years after my first day at Microsoft I decided to quest out on my own to pursue a few ideas for consumer solutions & applications which eventually turned into some contract & full time positions at early stage startups.

I'm also a lover of all things outdoors. Growing up my parents took my brother and me on hikes and backpacking trips around the Appalachians & the Tetons. It wasn't until I spent my first summer on the West Coast, Seattle to be specific, that I really felt a spark for all things outdoors. During my first tenure as an intern at Microsoft, I went hiking every single weekend, and made a trip to Yosemite with my brother at the end of the summer. When I came back for another summer I bought a pair of crampons & and ice axe and got my first taste of climbing and summiting peaks. Soon after I took a Mountaineering course on a four month stint in South America & returned to climb all of the Washington Volcanoes (including Mount Rainier). These days I do a lot of rock climbing whenever it's dry and backcountry skiing during the winter. I ran the Washington Alpine Club's Backcountry Ski Class from 2018 - 2021.