I spent fifteen years inside organizations trying to build things that matter — across political campaigns and parties, nonprofit organizations, civic tech, and local and federal government. I was Executive Director of the Missouri Democratic Party, where I led the organization through rebuilding trust and operational systems during a global pandemic. Later, as Executive Director of Contest Every Race, I created and scaled an innovative grants program to 45 states that provably increased rural progressive vote share by providing grants and support to over 350 local organizing groups.

Along the way, I became increasingly interested in the leadership side of the work: how we make decisions under pressure, how organizations build effective teams, and how leaders sustain themselves — or change — while simultaneously building something larger than themselves.

In 2022, after three years of consistent 80-hour work weeks and taking calls from hospital parking lots while caring for my terminally ill father, I made some significant changes. My father was a criminal defense attorney and single parent who navigated serious health issues without access to adequate insurance — watching that shaped why I entered advocacy and political work in the first place. His death, and the grace with which he faced his final years despite immense difficulty, became a catalyst. I got physically fit, became alcohol-free, got a yoga teacher certification, traveled the world, and started building differently.

After the 2024 elections, seeing the immediate impact on colleagues and the people I'd worked alongside for years, I founded The Generative Commons. The work I do now is the work I wish had existed when I needed it most.

I hold professional coach training through the Academy for Coaching Excellence, an ICF Level-2 accredited program, and I write about leadership, organizations, and political life in my Substack, Inside the Work of Change.