Life has always been an adventure for me. I’ve stood at the base of Everest, wandered the bustling bazaars of Cairo, and slept beneath the stars on a secluded Red Sea island.

But before those journeys and many more, my story began right here in Central Florida. I grew up between Cocoa, Merritt Island, and Orlando before earning a degree in Journalism from the University of Florida in Gainesville. My career started at the DeLand Sun News and the Daytona Beach News-Journal, then took me across the world with the Peace Corps in Eritrea.

It was there, on the edge of the desert, that I read a letter from a friend about a chance to go abroad—and I decided my next chapter would be Singapore. That choice led me to six exciting years in Asia, working with Dow Jones Newswires while learning diving, sign language, and Aikido (and learning I was definitely not destined to play piano or guitar). From there, my path took me to the Philippines, back to New York, and eventually home again to Central Florida.