I have lived in Seattle, WA for a decade now. I moved here in August 2010 to date a girl and write for a newspaper. I didn’t like the area at first and wanted back east again. But each summer, I grew to love the Northwest a bit more. The grand destinations like the Hoh Rainforest and Crater Lake now keep me here just as much as the simpler ones likes Mt. Si and Lake Serene. Neither the writing job nor the relationship lasted, but I fell in love with this place and want to stay forever. I live in the most beautiful place in the world.

Though Seattle is my home now, I will always be glad to trace my roots to Cincinnati, OH. It was in Cincinnati that I first hiked as a child and found the world of arts and letters through the public library system. I stayed in Ohio to pursue two degrees at The Ohio State University, first a Bachelor’s in Economics and Russian and then a Master’s in Slavic & East European Studies. I loved my time at Ohio State. It’s too big of a school for many people, but that big school also meant I could take classes in Uzbek language, Sanskrit grammar, Japanese industrial economics, and German history. It was a great place to be a learner.

I worked in several different roles at Expedia Group for more than seven years. It was a dream to work at the intersection of travel and tech. I started as a business analyst for airline accounts and ended managing strategic accounts for top car rental partners. In between, I got to help a ton of customers reach their goals and visited awesome places like Paris, London, Dubai, and Hamburg for work. I learned to love the tech industry at Expedia, and I’ve continued in it, first at a small church-tech startup called Subsplash and now at one of Seattle’s next great public companies, Outreach.

In my spare time, I love to read and write. I’ve always got the Wall Street Journal and The Economist on the table and a pile of books to read. I try not to let all those words on the page distract me from the ones I want to put on the page, too. After a long break from writing, I am publishing essays again now and loving it. I love traveling, both to regional classics like the Okanagan wine country in British Columbia or the high desert in Bend, OR as well as long trips like Hong Kong, Cyprus, and Russia. But above all, I love Jesus Christ. I gave my life to him in 2016. He is the source of my joy and hope.