For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved public speaking. Whether elucidating the parents’ association as a kindergartner on the critical differences between meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs or, many years later, talking about esoteric international rules at a tax conference, I draw energy from sharing what I know with people.
Standing at the front of the room this morning brought me back to high school. I did forensics (also known as speech and debate) all four years. Most Saturday mornings had me in an unfamiliar classroom, with half a dozen other hopefuls, waiting to give my speech. In another room, bless him, my dad, the ultimate trooper, was sitting through round after round of junior varsity extemporaneous speaking. Each school had to bring a certain number of judges based on the size of the team competing, and my dad always volunteered. When I made finals, a frequent occurrence starting my sophomore year when I abandoned extemp for declamation and original oratory, he would be there, sitting in the back of the room. Knowing how much it meant to me to do my best and be recognized for it, most days he was more nervous than I was.
Of all the presentations I’ve given, today was special. My 15-minute synthesis of my research project will not alter the course of human history, but it doesn’t have to. The engagement of the audience and the insightful questions that followed, especially from those who sought me out after, tells me that I’m not just doing work. I have work. Work with a capital double-u. What I am doing is interesting, inspiring, challenging, different, important, and necessary.
I’ve always relied on external validation and approval from others to bolster my self-image and foster my self-worth. Today didn’t give me that. Yes, people told me I did well, but that wasn’t why I felt good about it. For the first time, in possibly forever, I was proud of my work entirely on my own. That matters.
Huge thanks to my former colleague and forever friend, Dritton, for turning up to hear me speak and for his relentless encouragement.
From history major, with side quests in Medieval Studies and chemical engineering, to nonprofit finance leader, Big 4 tax partner, technologist, researcher, and now co-founder of Divine, nothing about my career has been linear. The throughline has always been systems: financial systems, organizational systems, technological systems, and human systems. I have an MBA in Operations and Supply Chain Management and a PhD in Organizational Leadership Psychology, and I’ve spent my career trying to understand how complex systems shape people’s choices, opportunities, wellbeing, and sense of belonging. Today, my work sits at the intersection of psychology, technology, human-centered design, and digital trust. I am co-founder of Divine, an open-source, decentralized social video app built to put creativity back in human hands and replace doomscrolling with joyscrolling. Divine is part of a bigger question I care deeply about: how do we create online spaces that support safety, creativity, identity, and belonging without defaulting to surveillance, extraction, or control? At Divine, I wear a lot of hats across engineering, finance, operations, and strategy, while helping shape the app’s trust, safety, and values work. I focus especially on teen online safety, human-generated content, participatory design, and healthier relationships with technology. I am a postdoctoral alum of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Computer Science, where I worked with Dr. Pam Wisniewski’s Socio-Technical Interaction Research Lab. I continue to write, speak, and research at the intersection of online safety, digital trust, decentralized technology, and youth wellbeing. I was named a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Data Integrity in 2023. In 2025, I had the honor of serving as President of Division 13 of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Consulting Psychology. I also live with major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2020, I took a leave from PwC to focus on my mental wellness, and I now speak and write openly about mental health, especially in the workplace and in relation to digital wellbeing. This blog, Seriously Jerk Brain, chronicles much of that journey.
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Seriously, Jerk Brain?! 
Congratulations on all counts!!
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Love this one a ton!! And get it – a former debater. 😉
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