Over the course of my career, I have served as:

• A Certified Instructional Systems Designer and curriculum developer for leaders in  federal government and state government.
• A Human-Centered Design Facilitator, helping teams create solutions rooted in empathy and innovation
• A DiSC Certified Facilitator, using personality frameworks to enhance communication and collaboration
• A Host and Facilitator of Executive Leadership Retreats, guiding visioning and strategy work for emerging and senior leaders
• A Yoga Teacher, deepening my knowledge of somatic awareness, breathwork, and embodied resilience
• A Facilitator for Eat Breathe Thrive, delivering mindfulness-based curricula for individuals recovering from disordered eating
  
  

Long before my formal certifications, I lived the classic Type A overachiever story:

• Honors programs, leadership roles, captain of sports teams, president of student organizations.
• I thrived on achievement, performance, and setting high standards - believing that success was built through hard work and endurance.
  
  

For years, I dedicated myself to helping early- and mid-career professionals - particularly in the government and nonprofit sectors - to grow, excel, and make meaningful contributions to public service.

Supporting others’ growth felt like a natural extension of my own drive to do meaningful work in the world.

But life, as it tends to do, eventually invited me into a much deeper, humbler, and more human definition of success.

After losing my grandmother after a five year battle with dementia and a major stroke, my body collapsed under the weight of long-held trauma, unrelenting stress, and years of putting others' needs ahead of my own.

I wasn’t just grieving her loss - I was grieving the loss of the able-bodied, unstoppable version of myself I had always believed I had to be.

Over the course of two years, I was diagnosed with a constellation of chronic illnesses:
Long COVID, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME), Endometriosis, Narcolepsy, and Fibromyalgia.

During one of the hardest moments - finishing cardiac rehabilitation sessions so painful I could barely walk to my car alone, often ending in tears - I would whisper to myself:

"This is happening for me, not to me."

It became my mantra.
A reminder that meaning could still be made from pain.
That life could still be lived, even differently.

The transition was excruciating and isolating.
At the time, no one around me had navigated anything like this.
I felt alone in a way I had never experienced before.

And yet, slowly, I began to rebuild:

• I took a medical leave of absence to honor my need for rest and healing.
• I stepped away from relationships that no longer nourished my growth.
• I moved across states to a place that nourished my body and soul.
• I surrendered to a slower, more intentional way of living - one rooted in self-trust, care, and sustainable joy.

Over the last year, I’ve been gathering the threads of meaning from this upside-down season of life. I realized that my experience, as painful as it was, placed me in a unique position to support others who are facing major life changes.

Today, through Invisible Not Imaginary, I offer mindset coaching and a nervous system regulation program for those experiencing nervous system overwhelm and chronic illness, as well as coaching for caregivers. My approach is grounded in compassion, presence, and a deep knowing that even when life changes us forever...

We are still whole.
We are still powerful.
We can still live fully - in new ways.

If you are navigating a season of profound change - whether due to illness, caregiving, or identity transitions - you don’t have to do it alone.

It would be an honor to walk alongside you.