Continually striving for a life less ordinary!
What are my passions? I love the outdoors and sports. I am an avid sailboat racer. I love to sail, hike, ski, ride, camp, and anything else that involves being outside. I also love the competition and organized chaos of sports. These items have all played into my crazy varied life to date.
When I was a kid, I went to summer camp where I learned to sail, ride, canoe, camp, work hard and get dirty. I spent weekends in the winter in the snows of MN, either shoveling, building snowpeople or learning to ski. I thank my parents for working hard to give me a great childhood.
One of the biggest influences that shaped my life was a semester abroad in Germany my junior year in high school. I knew then that I didn’t want to stay in MN for the rest of my life and that there were many other interesting and fascinating places to travel to and live.
In college, I become a leader in the largest student organization on campus. That organization enabled students to learn new and fun things to do outside. I found that if you put in the time and effort to volunteer to lead and organize the trips, you get to go for a reduced price! At this time, I realized I had a penchant for organizing and being a leader. 😉
I also taught sailing in the summers. I believe that everyone should teach someone something at some point in his or her life. You learn a lot about communication, patience and empathy. Not everyone learns or understands the same way and we all could use a little empathy and understanding for others.
After college, I took a job with a company that provided professional timing, scoring and results systems for national and world cup events. While working, I travelled all around the U.S. and Canada and my mountain bike and skies were even required equipment!
With that experience in hand, I was offered a position with the Olympic games working for the host broadcaster. I spent 8 years living in foreign countries and working for the Olympics Games. I loved my time abroad, meeting, working with and living amongst people from different cultures. Some of them are still some of my closest friends.
After I left the Olympic family, I was forced into a break from working. It was the fourth quarter of 2008, and no one was hiring. I spent the winter in MN, in the suburbs, with no public transportation, and no car. As you can imagine, I went a bit stir-crazy. Not having had many bites for my newly formed consulting LLC, I bought a Beneteau Oceanis 393 (sailboat) called “Orchid”, with a friend of mine from college and we set out for 6 months of adventure living aboard and sailing the eastern Caribbean. Even when we sold the boat, I knew that I would one day own and live aboard again.
Upon my return to the States, my consulting business started to pick up and through a great friend and former colleague I started working as a corporate event producer. I made some more great friends and enjoyed the exposure to large technology companies as well as corporate communications.
If you don’t know anything about freelancing, understand one thing. It doesn’t always provide the most consistent income flow. Contemplating an entire summer without work, I accepted a consulting contract with a bank, which turned into regular employment for 4 years. I learned a ton working in corporate America, and it gave me faith that big companies can and do the right things for both their customers and their employees.
I have now moved to Seattle, WA and am working on my next adventure with my boyfriend, which involved buying a sailboat, fixing up the boat, living aboard and eventually sailing the world.
Cheers to new adventures!