Work Experience

Website: Online Things & Internet Stuff

Big Takeaway:

This experience taught me how to think entrepreneurially and the fundamentals of starting and running a business. It also gave me a deep appreciation for the power of the internet, and an understanding of how to use digital tools effectively to reach organizational goals and engage with a virtual audience.

Proudest Accomplishments:

Bootstrapping a business was risky and challenging. I sometimes still find myself amazed that we managed to grow OTIS into what it is today, and create a sustainable business and life for ourselves. I’m very proud of the quality of services we offer and the strong client relationships we have built, and even more proud of the businesses that we have supported through our services and the work they are doing.

Today, I mostly enjoy working in OTIS at the strategic level. I’m currently continuing to provide high-level management and strategic consultation, and have stepped back from day-to-day operations in order to pursue new opportunities outside of our business. 

Role & Responsibilities:

I started OTIS with the goal of making high-quality education and experts more accessible to people by putting engaging learning content online. Our primary service offerings center around supporting businesses and experts in putting their content online and sharing it with their audience in a way that supports their goals and growth. We also offer small business strategy consultation through a lens of technical tools and virtual resources and provide general digital marketing services such as website design + dev and digital presence consultation. The business was started by myself and my partner (whom I eventually married) and serves clients at the small-business, individual and non-profit levels. As an owner and principal operator, my duties and responsibilities have spanned the spectrum of managing the business at the entrepreneurial level to performing every task in our business at an operational level to leading teams of individual contributors at the managerial level. I have developed a strong skillset in using virtual and digital tools to create a compelling online user experience and communicate our client's messages effectively using social media, newsletters, video, and other online platforms.

Website: Business 360

Big Takeaway:

My biggest takeaway from this experience was the importance of making education and content engaging, impactful. and easily accessible for a virtual learner, and how the internet and digital tools cal help accomplish that goal.

Proudest Accomplishments:

The contribution I’m most proud of in this role was producing the high quality of the online content and the user experience surrounding it, despite having very limited resources.

Role & Responsibilities:

In this role I headed up the development and launch an online curriculum geared towards entrepreneurial education for small business owners. In addition to developing and launching the online curriculum and the ongoing management of the learning platform, my duties included curating and managing the virtual student experience using various platforms and methods of digital communication. I also assisted in marketing the program to our target audience using digital media outlets such as video, social media, partnership marketing, newsletters, cross-blogging, SEO search, etc.

My role here gave me a thorough understanding of how entrepreneurs can use readily available digital and virtual tools to assist them in launching and growing a business, a philanthropic organization, or a movement, and an appreciation for the power of simple tools in the hands of someone who fundamentally understands the basic principles of business. I still do some consulting work for this organization as needed, and remain close friends with the owner, who is now one of my mentors.

Website: Eagle Center for Leadership
Website: The Enrichment Center

Big Takeaway:

This experience led to me develop an appreciation for the art of managing people and the importance of relationships in every business, regardless of the size or industry.

Proudest Accomplishments:

One of my biggest achievements working for the Leadership Development side was a successful implementation of new virtual tools and assessments I had developed and launched within teams of our largest clients, including 3M and Intel.

My proudest moment in the non-profit role was raising enough money to add our first title-one school to our list of service recipients, providing the at-risk students and struggling teachers at that school with a full-time on-site mental health counselor.

Role & Responsibilities:

I worked in a split role as the Program Manger for a global leadership development firm and simultaneously as the Associate Director for their non-profit organization aimed at providing mental health counselors for students and teachers in public schools. My duties on the for-profit side included developing and managing a new suite of online services for our business clients, including assessment-based virtual leadership training and online coaching programs. On the non-profit side, I developed an assessment tool to evaluate the effectiveness of non-profit organizations across non-traditional metrics, and created a business model around this product to assist in financing the core mission of providing mental health counselors to students and teachers.

Website: Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project

Big Takeaway:

This experience with teaching showed me the joy of sharing what we know with others and ingrained in me the inviolability of human dignity for all people.

Proudest Accomplishments:

Seeing one of my students from Tutwiler Prison for Women, who had a third-grade education, turn in a college-level final paper, and pass my class to receive her first college credits.

Role & Responsibilities:

After finishing my MBA I spent a year assisting Dr. Kate Thornton in piloting a curriculum for the new Global Studies major housed in the College of Human Development. I also taught two 100-level courses, Global Challenges & Intro to Hunger Studies, to Auburn undergrads and students incarcerated in Alabama state prisons (Tutwiler Prison for Women & Elmore Correctional Center).

While it was exciting to work in an academic environment and teach at the university, the challenges of teaching the same material to inmates inside prisons were formative for me and rewarding beyond words. This experience cultivated a life-long appreciation for the power of education and a staunch belief that the right to learn and the ability to change should be foregone conclusions granted to every single individual, despite their status and past choices. I will always fight for the rights of others to be educated, and I’m committed to making high-quality education as accessible, engaging, and impactful as possible, despite the challenges of environment and resource limitations.

Grab a PDF of my printer-friendly resume.

My family is made up of my partner Will, my two old dogs (that’s Hippy Hop >, Vivien Leigh not pictured), and many kindred spirits that I call friends and consider family.

Stay far from timid. Only make moves when your heart’s in it, and live the phrase: 'sky's the limit.'

-Notorious B.I.G