My life has never moved in straight lines.

It has moved across continents, classrooms, industries, and responsibilities — shaping not only what I know, but how I see.

I have lived and learned globally.

In 2008, I studied and lived in Africa for over three months while completing my minor in Multicultural Ethnic Studies. I witnessed a historic moment — Africa celebrating Barack Obama becoming the first Black president of the United States — while standing on another continent observing my own country through a global lens.

That experience changed me.

Education became lived.

Perspective became layered.

Identity became expansive.

Since then, movement has remained part of my formation.

From Africa to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Aruba, and the Bahamas — and across the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast and throughout the South — I have continued learning through culture, conversation, and immersion.

I have experienced the pace of major cities, the rhythm of coastal communities, the rooted steadiness of the South, and the innovation-driven energy of the West.

Travel expanded my lens.

People refined my discernment.

Experience sharpened my judgment.

My formation is not only geographic — it is operational.

I have worked in human services, corporate environments, and higher education.

I have moved from residential supervisor to residential director.

From manager to hiring authority.

From peer mentor to professor.

From faculty mentor to sitting on dissertation boards.

From employee to entrepreneur.

I have hired.

I have trained.

I have built.

I have led.

I have worked as a W-2 employee, a 1099 contractor, full-time and part-time, per diem and salaried, with benefits and without. I have navigated sabbaticals, unemployment, medical leave, family leave, bereavement, and the real-life complexities that shape working adults.

I do not speak about systems from the outside.

I have lived inside them.

Alongside lived experience, I earned:

• Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

• Minor in Multicultural Ethnic Studies (completed in Africa)

• Master of Business Administration (MBA), concentration in Marketing & Finance

• Master of Public Administration (MPA), with focus in nonprofit leadership

I also trained in accounting and tax preparation, grounding my business strategy in financial literacy and operational clarity.

My education did not create my perspective.

It refined it.

Today, I move with range.

I understand students and executives.

Founders and employees.

Nonprofits and for-profits.

Mothers and managers.

Vision and infrastructure.

Learning, for me, has never been static.

It has been global.

Professional.

Personal.

Continuous.

I have lived the systems I now help others navigate.

And I am still in motion.