Other mornings I'm on a bike in Michigan, or deep in a museum, or three years into a novel I keep promising myself I'll finish.
I split my life between two places that couldn't feel more different, and I wouldn't change it.
Zomba taught me to notice things. How a hillside responds when you plant trees on it. What happens at the edges - where a village meets a farm, where an organization's stated values meet what actually happens on the ground.
Zomba, Malawi
That last part became a career. I've spent 12 years working inside organizations across East and Southern Africa - building programs, leading operations, diagnosing why systems that looked good on paper weren't working in the field. I learned that the gap between what organizations say they do and what they actually do is almost always where the real work lives.
From 2014 to 2024, I worked in wildlife conservation in Tanzania and then joined One Acre Fund in Malawi, where I spent seven years in progressively senior roles. I managed people operations with a $450K budget. I led field operations for a $1.5M program, growing it from 15,000 to 62,000 farmers with 235 staff. I built and directed safety and welfare systems across 9 countries. The through-line was always the same: see what's actually happening, build systems that respond to that reality, and communicate honestly about it.
My husband Chris and I built Plateau East Eco-Village from scratch in Zomba - tree planting, erosion prevention, farm projects, and a yoga studio he built me as a birthday gift. We also make music and videos together. I'm the singer in our band Melonheart.
Outside of work and music, I read the classics - David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo. I practice meditation and yoga wherever I am. I take long walks through whatever forest is nearby and pay close attention to what I find there.
I'm now completing a two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. I started meditating not as a wellness routine but as a way of getting better at the thing my work already demanded: paying attention to what's actually in front of me. The contemplative tradition and the operational work turned out to be training for the same thing.
I moved to Michigan in 2025 and brought the diagnostic skills, the systems thinking, and the commitment to truth-telling with me. I still return to Malawi regularly. Plateau East is not a chapter that closed - it's an ongoing project and a place I go home to.
Today I work as Executive Producer at Sidelight Studio in Detroit, growth strategist for Books Brothers (an educational YouTube channel where I drove over 500% subscriber growth in 90 days), and career strategist for international development professionals navigating transitions. I work with clients locally, nationally, and internationally.
That habit of noticing things, taking them seriously, asking what's actually happening here - it turns out to be the most useful thing I do.
The Path
B.A. in Sociology, Minor in Anthropology
Colonel Robinson Merit Scholar (Full Academic Scholarship), 2009-2013
Connecticut
John Ratte Scholar, Graduated Cum Laude, 2005-2009
Whether you're looking for operational leadership, growth strategy, story production, or career positioning, I'd like to hear what you're working with.
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