About 18 years ago, I put my Seattle-based resume writing and copywriting business on hold to parent our biological daughter and our adopted son. We had just brought him home from Guatemala when an ice storm hit our area, knocking out power for days. We coped, mostly, but it was our third natural disaster out there. Plus, just about all our relatives lived back east. It was time to move. We decided that I would look for a job and my husband would stay home with the babies.

Miraculously, the perfect job came up on my alma mater’s website! Cornell University was looking for the next Director of the Cornell Entrepreneur Network. I had been the president of my chamber of commerce and had worked with dozens of startups to write their websites. I had also done a lot of volunteering for Cornell and was still connected to the university. So it seemed like the perfect fit.

They thought so too! I got the job and was at Cornell for nine years, leaving as the Senior Director for Metrics+Marketing in Alumni Relations. In 2016 I joined the team at Lehigh University to lead the Alumni Relations team and over the 9 years tripled the size of the team, doubled annual alumni engagement, evolved the alumni association board into university ambassadors, designed an awards program to highlight the most accomplished graduates, created first-generation and legacy commencement programs, and launched new affinity programs to engage women and diverse alums.

Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in a lot of industry extracirriculars. I’ve been a leader with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), serving as Commissioner, District Board Director, and Faculty Instructor. I’ve also written a few articles for their magazine, CURRENTS. I’ve spoken at several Academic Impressions conferences. I led the Private Colleges and University Alumni Director (PCUAD) Data Team for three years, and have consulted countless peers and colleagues who were just starting their engagement data journey.

In the local community, I’m the fundraising chair and Vice President of CAT-Coalition for Appropriate Transportation, which advocates for less reliance on automobiles. I also serve as a Judge of Elections, and I’m the Youth Programs Coordinator and the President-Elect for the Morning Star Rotary Club.