There was no single moment where everything clicked. It basically just grew. After the call center shut down and put hundreds of people out of work, I started helping friends with their resumes. No charge, no business plan. Just someone who understood hiring sitting down with people who genuinely needed help and could not afford what was out there. At some point I realized I needed to protect my time. So I opened it up to the wider community on Facebook and charged for it. It honestly blew up. What I had essentially done without really planning it was fill a gap that nobody else was filling. Professional resume help in a small town, at a price real people could actually afford. The opportunity did not exist — not because nobody wanted it, but because nobody had bothered to build it yet. Create Your Resume was not born from a grand vision. It was born of neighbors needing help and of me being someone who could not just watch and do nothing. I have never been one to just stand idly by when there was a need at hand. Sometimes that is genuinely just how it starts.

I am currently building an app because I saw a gap that kept coming up in both my clinical work and my own lived experience. Many of the individuals I support, especially neurodivergent and disabled individuals, are expected to function within systems that do not account for capacity, energy, or fluctuation. There are tools for productivity, but very few that are built around sustainability, accessibility, and realistic engagement. Over time, it became clear that this was not just an individual challenge, but a systems issue. People were being asked to adapt to environments that were not designed for them, rather than having tools that supported how they actually function. Instead of waiting for something to exist, I began developing an app focused on capacity-aware planning. The goal is to help individuals better understand their limits, plan within them, and engage with their lives in ways that are sustainable rather than depleting. This work reflects a broader shift in how I approach both clinical practice and systems thinking. Rather than asking people to push beyond their limits, I am interested in building tools and systems that meet people where they are.

Sometimes the path forward doesn't exist until someone is willing to carve it out. For me, that moment came when I realized the spaces I was working in didn't yet hold what young people, families, and even fellow professionals truly needed. I kept meeting youth whose self‑worth had been shaped by systems, not by their own stories. I kept meeting parents and caregivers who wanted support but didn't have language for their pain. And I kept meeting colleagues who were exhausted, brilliant, and unseen. So I built what wasn't there. I created programs, tools, and conversations that centered dignity, healing, and possibility. I wrote the book Beyond the Couch because the people I served deserved access to therapeutic insight even if they couldn't afford therapy or didn't trust the systems around them. I founded Army Brats Give Back because I didn't see a space where children of veterans could honor their parents while also serving their communities. And in every role I've held, from juvenile justice to clinical support, I've redesigned the way we talk to youth about who they are and what they're capable of. None of these opportunities existed before I stepped into them. They were born from gaps, from silence, from the ache of "this should exist, but it doesn't yet." I didn't wait for permission. I built the thing I needed, the thing my clients needed, the thing my community needed. And that's how I've always moved: when the path isn't there, I create one sturdy enough for others to walk across.

I did it by betting on myself when it mattered most. Without shortcuts or guarantees, I leveraged my experience, trusted my vision, and built Alserva Votum GeneTrak with intention and grit. Every obstacle became fuel, every setback a lesson. My journey is a testament to what happens when determination, purpose, and courage align. I didn't just build a business, I created access, opportunity, and change.

There came a point where I realized the issue wasn't a lack of funding, it was a lack of access to the right information and strategy. After years of working behind the scenes managing multi-million-dollar grants, I saw how many businesses and organizations were being left out, not because they weren't qualified, but because they didn't understand how to position themselves for funding. That realization led me to create Opulence Group. I didn't build it to simply write grants. I built it to bridge that gap, helping people move beyond guesswork and into structure, strategy, and sustainability. Building something that didn't exist required me to trust my experience, step into a space that wasn't clearly defined, and be intentional about the impact I wanted to create.

Sometimes the most meaningful things we build aren't created all at once, they're built over time, through intention, consistency, and a willingness to do things differently.

There was a point in my career when I recognized a major gap in healthcare; patients who needed lab work but couldn't easily access it. Whether it was due to mobility issues, time constraints, or lack of transportation, I saw too many people falling through the cracks. At the time, there wasn't a solution that truly met patients where they were. Instead of waiting for that solution to exist, I built it. That's how Straight Shot Mobile Labs was created. I took my clinical experience and combined it with a vision for accessibility, designing a service that brings laboratory testing directly to patients' homes and facilities. It wasn't just about convenience. It was about equity, dignity, and improving outcomes. Building something that didn't already exist came with challenges, but it also reinforced a key lesson: sometimes the opportunity isn't found, it's created.

I did not create unPREPARED, LLC from theory. I built it from real life experience, hard earned lessons, and years on the front lines when disasters struck. With a background in disaster management, emergency training, and hands on deployments across the United States and abroad, I saw firsthand what families face when a crisis arrives without warning. From hurricanes and wildfires to large scale shelter operations, I witnessed fear, confusion, displacement, and the emotional toll disasters take on children. I helped open and close shelters serving thousands of families. I worked with communities in their most vulnerable moments. I saw parents trying to stay strong while children searched for safety, comfort, and understanding. Through every deployment, one truth became clear. Children are often left out of emergency preparedness conversations. Adults are taught to make plans, pack survival bags, learn evacuation routes, and prepare for emergencies. But children are rarely taught what to do in a way they can understand, remember, and use. I knew that had to change. My emergency management training gave me the knowledge. My disaster response work gave me the urgency. But my experience training elementary and middle school students in New York City gave me the vision. While teaching children about safety and crisis readiness, I discovered they are not too young to learn preparedness. They simply need the information taught in the right way. When children learn through stories, activities, repetition, and confidence building exercises, they do not become afraid. They become aware. They become capable. They want to be part of the safety plan. That discovery became the foundation of unPREPARED, LLC. I founded this company to close a critical gap in disaster education by creating a Crisis Management for Kids curriculum that teaches children what to do before, during, and after emergencies. The program covers practical safety skills including storms, fires, evacuations, separation from family, sheltering, and emotional stress. unPREPARED, LLC is more than a training program. It is a movement to make preparedness normal, accessible, and designed for children. It gives parents peace of mind. It gives schools tools to strengthen student safety. Most importantly, it gives children confidence when fear could otherwise take over. I turned my experience into purpose. I took what I learned from disaster zones, emergency classrooms, Red Cross deployments, shelter operations, and youth training, and transformed it into something designed to protect the next generation. My mission is simple. Prepare children before a crisis happens, not after. I saw the gap. I lived the work. I trained the children. And I chose to become the solution.

I built an off-site PST from scratch, tied it to clear growth metrics, and watched it flourish into a model others now copy.

As an Inventor of a Patent feminine hygiene product, God gave it to me in a dream for giving up everything to care for my mom. After she went to heaven at 95, God said it was time, so I pushed through the hard painful times and birth the Super Comfort Maxi Pad.

After 25 years in law and government affairs, I had a dream to create the world's first immersive, community-centered environment for dogs and their owners. A pet-inclusive space that blends entertainment, community and hospitality (in-doors) whether you live in a cold or hot climate. @Doggos Paw and Play Park. The concept is proven, the investment will follow! In the short term, I divide my time between the work I know, and the dream!

I didn't succumb to my circumstances. I chose to build through them.

When I got to Utah Tech the infrastructure connecting arts organizations to real philanthropic support simply didn't exist, so I built it the old-fashioned way: one stubborn conversation at a time. Turns out 'we've never done it that way before' is just 'yes' wearing a disguise

Alongside my friend and business partner, I co-founded Latinas Rising LLC to amplify the voices of women through authorship, mentorship, consulting, leadership development, and community building. This movement raises awareness of the calladita phenomenon, the little known expectation that women should stay silent and declares: it stops with us. Calladitas no more!

At one of my previous places of employment, there wasn't a role for home equity mortgage underwriting, which is a huge market in my area. So, I stepped up and gave the pros of creating this position. I was able to step into this new role, excel at it, and make it to what it is today.

I don't wait for someone else to fix it or show me how; I step into the unknown, learn the skill, and make the way forward.