Hello

I grew up in a small town in New Mexico (they're all small towns except for Albuquerque). My dad and grandpa were both pilots and I used to jump up and down at the opportunity to fly with them. I learned about the fragility of life at an early age when I lost them both to separate aviation accidents before I reached the age of eight. At that time, my exposure to aviation had disappeared until later in life.

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Growing up with an older brother, I was a tomboy and spent all of my time outside trying to keep up with him. I was a multi-sport athlete in high-school but found myself spending what little free time I had with artists, young philosophers, band students and writers. I learned to play guitar and began to write songs and poetry. At a young age, I felt for the underdog and had a heart for fairness and equality, sometimes writing notes to teammates or classmates that I felt had been struggling with difficult circumstances with coaches or school.

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After high school, I took a job as a housekeeper at a mountain resort in Colorado with some friends. We got into some memorable shenanigans, but most significantly,  flying came back into my life at this time. The employee housing for the resort was a three-mile walk nighttime along railroad tracks peppered with glow worms and raspberries to where my car was parked. I drove into Durango and stayed in a (dingy, cheap) hotel that night all by myself for the first time and the next morning I went on the first glider ride since my grandfather had taken me. It was a beautiful late morning and we took off from a perfectly-groomed grass runway. When we landed I went straight to the front desk and asked if they needed help the next summer. They did. And it was good.

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My life took many hairpin turns between then and now, but suffice it to say that I was able to manage the ability to advance in my flight ratings over a ten-year period, in part due to scholarships from the National Gay Pilots Association and the Dare to Dream Scholarship hosted by Women in Aviation International.

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Without the financial resources to commit to finish my helicopter training after earning my commercial rating, I decided to make the huge commitment to serve in law enforcement while hopefully earning the opportunity to get more training and fly for an agency. That opportunity did come, but the rest, as they say, is history. I was forced to quit after enduring two 20-25 week paramilitary academies within the span of three years and serving in law enforcement for nearly seven years due to a hostile and sexist work environment.

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My goal was to be a mission pilot for NM State police, but now I have a broader mission that will help raise the bar and help agencies, companies and individuals thrive. I currently live with my partner and two kids. My partner is doing incredible work facilitating kids in building social-emotional skills that reduce stress and anxiety and improve behavioral responses. You can see her work here. I look forward to hearing about your story and learning how I can help lift you up in your mission to increase humanitarianism in our culture and our workplaces. If you represent a business, let's talk about challenges you face in being successful at creating a healthy and diverse ecosystem. Let's change the way we do work and life and watch as businesses and individuals thrive.

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