My hope is that if nothing else, you will find this site entertaining and want to contribute to the conversation.
Here’s my story … the short version:
I spent most of my freshman year in college walking through the mall, skipping classes, and mourning the loss of great artists and musicians. Being a Gen-X’er, it was a very solemn time. I was attending college on a scholarship, and, as luck would have it, my mother was a professor there, too.
During my sophomore year, I was called into the dean’s office and told I wasn’t in the right place and needed to move on. Even though I passed every test and completed every assignment, my attendance was abysmal.
I took a few months to regroup. Here I was—the straight-A student, the one who hated disappointing people—and I’d just been kicked out of college.
But I wasn’t done yet. I gathered myself, applied to a state school, and begged them to let me in. Seriously. I took my mom to the dean’s office and pleaded my case. I promised I would attend every class and take courses year-round to prove I could graduate. The universe conspired, and they accepted me. I kept my word—taking classes year-round—and graduated with a high GPA without losing any time. I even traveled abroad, did multiple internships, and worked a study job to help pay for college.
That study job was in the athletics department. I sang the National Anthem at every home game and then washed all the dirty uniforms afterward. Weird experience, right? More on that later.
Then, I got accepted into Up with People, which was a dream come true. I spent a year traveling with hundreds of international students, seeing the country from buses, planes, and living with amazing host families across multiple states.
After that, I returned home to begin my “adult life.” Not long after, I got a sales job at Verizon, selling yellow-page ads. But then, life threw me a curveball, and I had to make a big change. I moved to Center City and lived with a dear friend, picked up bartending, and then started teaching bartending at five different schools. I was pretty good at it, too.
One day, bored and scrolling through MySpace, I noticed a record label from South Jersey looking for background singers. Spoiler alert: I didn’t end up singing, but I did start a business with the person I contacted on MySpace. We ran that company for years, exploring all sorts of business angles—podcasts, a music magazine, running a store—but I never sang again.
Eventually, we realized MySpace wasn’t going to be around forever. Even though artists had their pages, they could eventually be taken down. So, I Googled how to make websites, downloaded Gimp, and eventually found WordPress.
My first websites were terrible, but I kept at it. The music industry was shrinking, and money was tight, so I started job hunting. I landed a gig at YIKES, then moved on to WebDevStudios, and now I work at Automattic. I’ve worked my way up through the trenches.
From music to tech, my life has been full. When I’m not collaborating with incredible colleagues and customers, I’m living my dream. I recently bought a new home, and I’m restoring it to its former glory in the suburbs.
Through writing, food, music, my pets, art, and spirituality, I’ll keep screwing it up and fixing it.