I have the utmost respect for all walks of life. I understand how vast human experience is and that we are all doing our best, even when our best isn’t what the people around us might need.

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I was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a young couple who weren’t ready to be parents. Much of my early life was shaped by instability, drugs, and poverty. I moved between my grandparents’ homes before eventually settling in Colorado with my mom. There, I was taken in by the man who would become my dad — a singer-songwriter who unofficially adopted me into a life of music, travel, and summers spent on the road.

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In middle school, I was diagnosed with trauma-related learning disabilities and told I’d never live independently or hold a job — a crushing message to hear as a child. Traditional school wasn’t a place I could thrive, so I spent most of my adolescence learning outside the system. After we moved to California to be near a grandparent, we connected with a family who shared their First Nation traditions and healing practices. Their community and teachings helped me begin to work through the pain I was carrying.

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When I was ready for more structure, I enrolled in Community College to complete my high school credits and graduated from a Community High School. From there, my path took unexpected turns: I worked in the trades as a metal worker, then in plant nurseries, and eventually achieved a long-held goal by joining the United States Antarctic Program. Over the next 17 years, I worked across multiple departments, traveled the world, and discovered I was capable of far more than I’d ever been led to believe.

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My lived experiences include growing up in a broken home, poverty, exposure to drugs, drug use, deep loneliness, emotional trauma, suicidal ideation, anxiety, trauma-induced learning disabilities, and sexual trauma. These challenges have shaped me, but they do not define me. Instead, they’ve given me empathy, resilience, and a deep desire to walk alongside others on their healing journeys.

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Today, I bring my lived experience to peer support with hope, honesty, and the belief that no one’s story is ever truly over — especially not the one we’re still writing for ourselves.

These days, I love walking in nature, being creative, painting, drawing, gardening, listening to music, cooking, learning new things, gaming, watching movies, and — most of all — connecting with people.