About Me
Having always had an interest in a variety of subjects, my studies at Western Washington University took me through a rather circuitous route to graduating from Huxley College with a Bachelor of Arts in Resource Management, the essence of which has permeated into the foundation of nearly everything I do.
I had the great fortune of applying this educational background and expanding upon it in both the private and public sectors in the community I loved. I implemented city-sponsored programs that I developed for water and energy conservation initiatives for individuals and businesses, and provided operations and project support for a small civil engineering firm focused on sustainable development design.
When I was 27, I bought my first home— an 1895 Victorian that needed restoration and renovation work which at the time I did not have the knowledge or skills to do. My dad, a merchant marine mechanical engineer and master jack-of-all trades had just retired and again to my great fortune, was excited to help and teach me his decades of experience. Simultaneously, professionally I was developing and implementing community workshops on rainwater collection through my municipal employment. In my mid-30s I began realizing the importance of my hands-on participation in creating tangible solutions to sustainability challenges.
In my 40s, this led to gaining trade skills in natural home building, restoration, and plaster professionally. This path included expanding the explorations and experiences on an additional continent: Europe. Italy became a significant and unexpected aspect of my life in 2017 when I began connecting with my Italian heritage. Citizenship by descent through my great-grandparents, Italian language school, and then the purchasing of a home in a medieval village has allowed me to further apply my varied skillsets and acquire new ones in a different language, culture, and built environment.
People are my vocation, whether that means designing programs for their individual and our collective environment’s well-being or improving their living spaces with beauty, functionality, and heritage.
“When you find the courage to change at midlife, a miracle happens. Your character is opened, deepened, strengthened, softened. You return to your soul’s highest values. You are now prepared to create your legacy: an imprint of your dream for our world-a dream that can fully come true in The Second Half of Life.”
My personal mission is to utilize my knowledge and skills in both the trades and professional services sectors to affect change that leads to choosing more sustainable behaviors and materials in today’s modern world.