I grew up skateboarding around Richmond, and I think that experience shaped me more than I realized at the time. Skateboarding taught me to be comfortable figuring things out on my own, to fall and get back up, and to keep trying something even when I wasn’t immediately good at it. There was a creativity and independence to it that has stayed with me.

My path through school and my career wasn’t exactly linear. My first attempt at college at VCU didn’t go the way I had planned. I was studying finance and eventually left school, carrying with me the feeling that I had failed at something I was supposed to be able to figure out. But life has a funny way of redirecting you. Around that same time, I met my wife, Delaney, and my priorities and perspective began to change.

Eventually, I went back to school, this time as a computer science major. Technology turned out to be a place where a lot of my interests came together, the analytical side of me, the problem-solving side, and eventually the creative side. Later, while we were raising our kids, I went to the University of Richmond at night to earn my MBA. Balancing school, work, and family was challenging, but it also became one of the most meaningful periods of my life. It helped shape the career I have today as a technology, data, and product leader.

I love building things, solving complicated problems, working with talented people, and thinking about how technology, data, and products can make a real difference. But as important as my work is to me, my family is at the center of everything. Being a husband and a dad to Bentley and Dixon has given everything else in my life a deeper sense of purpose. And outside of both work and family, I’ve always needed a creative outlet. There’s something about making something with your own hands, starting with a blank canvas or a blank page, and slowly turning an idea into something real that feels completely different from my professional life.

That creative side of me keeps me grounded. It reminds me that not everything needs to be optimized, measured, or solved. Sometimes you just make something because you want to see where it takes you. I think that’s the same part of me that loved skateboarding everyday, the part that wants to experiment, create, take a few risks, fall down occasionally, and keep going.

Looking back, my story has been less about following a straight path and more about finding my way through the unexpected turns. And maybe that’s the lesson I want to carry forward: success isn’t necessarily about having the perfect plan. Sometimes it’s about being willing to change direction, stay curious, and keep creating.