How I Got Here:

Co-hosted Until It's Fixed, a top-5 medical podcast exploring how health care works (and doesn't work) for the people living inside it. We talked to innovators trying to fix the system and people directly impacted by it.

What it taught me: The most valuable insights are born from good questions. Leaders who create space for honest conversation, especially with the people their decisions impact most, build strategies that hold up under pressure. Curiosity is a strategic advantage.

Made a documentary while living in Greek refugee camps. Refugee Is Not My Name tells the stories of women navigating displacement, survival, and everything that comes with it.

What it taught me: Relationships move at the speed of trust. This is earned through consistency, transparency, and follow-through. This applies whether you're filming a documentary or building a partnership. If people don't trust your intentions, your strategy won't matter.

Led social responsibility strategy at UnitedHealth Group, the world's largest healthcare company.

What it taught me: Building on the bright spots creates momentum. People resist change but love to be part of something exciting, so make the work irresistible! 

I often speak about things like leadership, community power, systems change, and what it means to support people through transformation. Keynotes, panels, podcasts, and conversations for audiences trying to do work that matters.

What it taught me: Authenticity and vulnerability inspire people to consider what's possible for themselves, their communities, and our world. And, as my Public Speaking professor once said, "everyone in the audience wants to see you deliver something incredible. They're not waiting to see you fail - they're cheering you on!"

I'm an adoptee, and I talk openly about the parts of the adoption industry that need to change. This includes petitioning the South Korean government's Truth and Reconciliation Committee to investigate human rights abuses, advocating for the Adoptee Citizenship Act, and organizing adoptees.

What it taught me: Systems operate the way they were designed. As a result, I'm always asking: who does this really serve? Whose voices are missing from the decision-making process? What's the gap between stated values and actual practice? Being adopted gave me a lens for spotting when systems prioritize their own continuity over the people they serve.

Contributed to the field of women's health research by piloting six first of their kind pilots that centered our most vulnerable populations. Deployed $22M to seed the field of maternal health, integrating partner insights and outcomes into clinical practice, and centering the people who've been left out of the conversation for too long.

What it taught me: Real impact requires changing who makes decisions, what metrics matter, and whose expertise gets valued. This means funding community-led solutions that don't fit traditional grant structures, measuring outcomes that matter to people (not just output), and being willing to cede control to those closest to the problem.

I support people through pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum providing emotional, physical, and informational care during one of the most transformational times in someone's life. 

What it taught me: The greatest gift is presence - witnessing someone through change and encouraging them to tap into their own wisdom under pressure. That applies whether someone's in labor or leading through a crisis.

Founded New Leaders Council-Twin Cities, now Minnesota's largest leadership program for young people of color working toward equity across the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Built to create space, build power, and support the leaders we need.

What it taught me: Sustainable change requires building bench strength. The organizations that last are the ones that distribute power, develop people, and create strong systems that hold the foundation for change. My role as a founder was to build something that didn't need me, then let go. This has deeply informed my leadership practice.

I walk beside people who are dying and people who are grieving. I often talk about my doula work as facilitating someone's conversation with God. It is a privilege to hold this kind of space for people and I have learned a lot as a result. One of the things I find myself most astounded by is the innate wisdom of our bodies: to breathe, to release, to know.

What it taught me: We are constantly grieving because we are constantly evolving and that includes ending things, letting things go, and moving on. There is real relief in acknowledging that we have always had this intimacy with death.