I have always tried to make sense of the ways in which people experience and understand their worlds. How do people interact with the world in the ways they do? What have we actively chosen to learn, and what underlying lessons, worldviews, and assumptions have we unconsciously learned and never questioned? This quest has led me to study religion, education, leadership, and positive psychology. I seek to help folks build self-compassion, cognitive flexibility, and emotional resilience using the tools of positive psychology. I am fundamentally interested in how humans find meaning in their lives, and further how they can support this quest for others as well.

Education has been at the core of my life’s work – it runs in the family, as my parents, siblings, grandparents, and extended family are all in their own ways committed to learning and personal development. My life was forever changed in just one weekend during 10th grade – I attended the New York East Hugh O’Brian Youth (HOBY) Leadership Seminar. There I learned that caring was cool, that young people have a voice, and that collectively through kindness, curiosity, and positivity we can make a difference in the world. And it was the start of sustained involvement in mentorship, leadership development, and community service, areas that serve as integrating threads of my life. Over the summer of 1999 I attended the HOBY World Leadership Congress in Philadelphia, PA, where I learned, laughed, and led with over 200 other ambassadors from around the world. Coming from a relatively homogeneous and isolated small town, this week absolutely transformed the way I understood humans and their fundamental connections. My HOBY journey came full circle in 2021 when I served as chair of the World Leadership Congress – our first-ever hybrid experience.

At Tufts University, I was called to study the seemingly obscure field of comparative religion. I toyed with international relations, political science, and psychology, yet found studying religion gave me a different kind of window into both individual worldviews and the impact of institutions on belief and behavior. While a PhD in religion seemed too esoteric to pursue after undergrad, I worked at Harvard University and started to understand that a career dedicated to helping young adults was fully possible. Colleges and universities have always been my home, and I was able to pursue my masters in higher education at Harvard while also working there (sidebar: young people, if you can get someone to pay for your education, do it!). My path in higher education then led me to the University Honors Program at The George Washington University, where I served as an advisor for a high-achieving population that reflected so much of my young self. At GW, the stress levels and drive to achieve among my honors advisees caused me to finally reckon with the toll perfectionism and achievement orientation had taken on my own life, and sparked my interest in positive psychology.

In May 2022, I stepped away from my role as director of advising in the Wharton Undergraduate Division at the University of Pennsylvania. I completed yet another masters degree in 2019, this time a masters in applied positive psychology (MAPP) also at the University of Pennsylvania. My capstone focused on the search for and development of meaning in life for adolescents and young adults with a particular focus on perfectionism and achievement as potential threats to meaning. A recovering perfectionist myself, I use yoga, running and humor to stay grounded and optimistic. Despite my often exuberant external presence, self-confidence has always been a struggle for me. Putting it all out there on a blog and website is taking it to the next level of vulnerability for me… know that I am cringing as I publish this!

Now that you’ve made it through this very long bio (congrats!), I hope we get to connect in person someday! There’s more to say – but I will leave you with a quote from NBC’s The Good Place, “Why not try? It’s better than not trying, right?