My Story

I was always sure I wanted to make helping people a career, I just wasn’t sure how. I first became engaged in international service work when I was 15 on the Adoptees Giving Back Orphan Service Trip. I traveled to China with a group of other adoptees to volunteer at an orphanage just miles away from the one I once called home.

The disparity in access to water on that trip opened my eyes and led me to pursue an environmental engineering degree. I wanted to understand how to balance sustainable natural resource management and the provision of basic needs for all.

In pursuing water engineering for international development in undergrad, I had the opportunity to work on water supply, delivery, and treatment projects for applications in low-income and otherwise resource-constrained communities in El Salvador and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

I was offered a position as a consulting engineering in drainage design and stream restoration straight out of college.

I wanted more than engineering design work from my career, so I found ways to round out and hone my softer skills by volunteering for the communications, development, branding, and marketing teams for several non-profit organizations.

I utilized this experience to gain a part-time position with the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley engaged in strategic communications and program management for social and environmental justice research.

I bridged these two pillars of work, water resources and strategic communications, to decolonize the development sector as it shifts to more community-centered frameworks. I was engaged in work at UC Berkeley and USAID that made strides to strengthen the capacity of local actors so that they can be empowered with the technical knowledge and resources they need to be decision makers and project managers within their own communities. More about that in my "Projects" section.

After my time at Berkeley, I pivoted to do development work within the United States. I wanted to spend more time working on issues at Home and now work with Water Finance Exchange to deliver comprehensive technical assistance to over 50 small, rural, and disadvantaged water and wastewater systems throughout the State of Texas.