I’m a 5th generation San Francisco Bay Area native. Until grade school, my sister and I were raised by my single father. I moved in with my mom and stepdad for kindergarten with a variety of blended family and educational contexts that are far too complicated to summarize, so I won’t. My mom and step-dad taught me adaptability, fearlessness, generosity and charisma, skills I didn't fully appreciate until much later in life.
My dad got me my first computer for my 13th birthday and subsequent peripherals (disk drive, printer, word processor, etc) as gifts for the next four years. I took my first programming class in the back of a computer store, the only kid in an adult BASIC class. This was the first of many “only” experiences in technology.
I moved to Arizona for high school and graduated at 16. I got my first W2 at 14, and held a variety of hourly jobs throughout high school and college. I bought food with food stamps, used free school lunch tickets and was a grateful recipient of food bank baskets for the holidays. I was the first in my family to complete a bachelor's degree, thanks to in-state tuition, academic scholarships, a Pell Grant and student loans. I’m grateful for the people and systems that made higher education possible for someone with my background.





I got my first job in tech and rapidly moved into leadership. Early in my career, I was keenly aware of my lacking pedigree and expended enormous energy trying to fit in. I was an intentional observer, an eager learner and a hard worker, with the added advantage of being really good at navigating setbacks, solid tools for forward momentum. I managed to find a great industry for being ambitious, nerdy and different. I have always been on the lookout for professional luck and have taken purposeful risks in service of learning. Not all of these risks paid off, of course, but every one helped me develop my craft and improve my skills. I discovered I enjoyed sharing my learnings with others, a gift I credit to my father who is a creative problem solver and patient teacher.
My husband and I have been fortunate to build successful careers in technology and raise two adult children. Everyday I’m grateful that my children chose us, and while we had absolutely no idea what we were doing as parents, we love the funny, smart, kind adults they have become. I have always had full support for my professional ambitions from my family and they have made many personal sacrifices to help me achieve my goals.
Today, I find myself in a unique situation of having achieved all my professional goals [hello arrival fallacy] and am elevating my ambitions to impacts that will last beyond my lifetime. I feel a strong obligation to identify and remove structural barriers and opportunity gaps for others.





I am going to invent the future. A future where we value and engage the contributions of all to help humanity thrive.
I will invent a future that I want to live in. I hope you will join me.

