About Me!

I am a dynamic leader and team maker with 15 years of professional experience. My diverse background melds one of a kind Special Forces leadership with customer-centric retail experience and software engineering. I graduated from the University of Illinois in 2004 with a B.S. in Information Technology Studies and a B.A. in English and Rhetoric. I passed up an entry position with Ebay located in California and joined the military with an 09S contract option to attend Officer Canidate School.

I spent 9 years in the military and had multiple deployments across the globe. I enjoyed thinking out side the box and challenging myself so I went to the Special Forces Selection and Assessment where I was selected to attend the Special Forces Qualification Course.

As a former Special Forces Detachment Commander, I have unique knowledge in viewing systems through a defensive mindset demonstrated in the physical domain. I spent years looking at the architecture of combatant armies and societal structures through the lens of the guerrilla identifying weak points, gathering information to develop attack vectors. I was struck by a 3,000lb bomb from 90 meters away which led to my transition to the civilian world.

During my transition to the civilian world, I spent time in the retail sector, learning how to be obsessed with the end-to-end customer experience. I led a security team at Target for a $38M store with 200+ team members where I reduced the shortage from $1.054M to $230K with unique leadership, problem solving, and critical thinking. Despite being in physical security, my bold leadership style supported my teams strengths in developing 3 applications to automate security processes. This led to an effeciency in payroll hours by 30% and directly impacted our top 3% out of 3,000 stores results.

Additionally in this time, like most veterans needed to rebrand my soft skills with technical skills. I began to pursue a M.S. in Cybersecurity Engineering. I started with MBA course work at St. Martins and moved to pre-requisite STEM classes at SPSCC. This course work paved the way for my acceptance into the University of Washingon Bothell's Graduate Certificate in Software Development and Design. After completing the year long cirriculum I applied and was accepted into their M.S. in Cybersecurity Engineering program. Now, my past and present skills are forging a career in cybersecurity.

My strengths include planning, leading, team building, design, problem-solving, and achieving outcomes. My soft skills include unique leadership experience, time-sensitive planning, cross-cultural team building, customer segmentation, and red team planning and execution in the physical domain. Technical Skills include C++, C#, Java, Python, OOP, ADT, Microsoft, VIM/VI, Visual Studio, Eclipse, MAC OS, Windows, Linux. My interest includes offensive security, penetration testing, fuzzing, and vulnerability assessments. I love identifying a problem and working to develop a solution with a team.

I am passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Below is one short story about a time period I care about demonstrating my actions to help bring equality.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the predecessor for both the Central Intelligence Agency and Special Forces. Before the Army employed segregation to keep women out of combat roles, female operators were part of the OSS throughout WWII. This perpetuated stereotypes, myths, and discrimination that I witnessed throughout my career. My team participated in the pilot program, Cultural Support Teams (CST), in 2013. The CST program was the precursor to the first female being allowed to complete the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2020. I championed this program in the face of adversity. That means I was challenged by superior Officers with career implications for standing up for my beliefs. However, the difficulty I faced was nothing compared to the discrimination and challenges bore by the brave women of the CST program. I am proud to have played a small role in righting a social injustice. I recognize, there is more work to be done.

I am most proud of my son, who helped me plan and build our first computer together. We conducted a hasty requirements engineering to ensure we built a home lab capable of supporting ethical targeting. I continue to marry my unique past in physical security with my future in the cyber domain. He is still upset that I'm not using my 2080 TI for gaming...