ABOUT ME

I am passionate about helping others live their most authentic and rewarding lives.

I have ADHD.

Like many with a new ADHD diagnosis, I dove in headfirst and applied myself to learning as much as possible. Reading, watching youtube, podcasts, taking classes, participating in support and accountability groups, and sorting a lot of it out with my psychologist. A few things became evident to me; I was not alone, we are everywhere, and we are some of the most influential people in society and history. While there still exists some stigma and misunderstanding, we know much more about ADHD today than we did when I was a child in the 70s and 80s. I also began to understand the ways life with ADHD had distorted what I believed about myself. Suddenly, a lot of things started to make sense.

It did not take long for me to realize that this work and helping others is where I belong. I knew I belonged, after meeting so many amazing people like me who "got it." And after learning how much progress had been made in understanding ADHD. And most importantly, after experiencing for myself the power of community; expressing vulnerabilities and finding solutions, shared experiences, and knowledge. It felt like coming home. Like I found myself in an incredible and opulent palace, a place which I had forgotten, and then remembered -- "oh, yeah, I live here." Truth is, I had been there all along. It is home because service, and the honor of helping others, is essential to my life, like breathing, and all that really matters in the end.

I am an autodidact with 30 years in front of computer screens, things that beep, miles and mountains of wires, robots, and clacking keyboards. Most of my professional career has been spent working in various roles at some of the top tech companies out there. When I am not coaching, I am an Engineering Program Manager for a software company with one of the most complex computing environments on the planet.

One of my passions, which I have dedicated many years to, is Search and Rescue. While in California and later in Texas, I served with several volunteer disaster response and rescue agencies. Most notably with Travis County Search and Rescue as ground search, and on their special operations team (rope, cave, and water rescue), and later as Logistics Chief.

Shortly after moving to Washington state, I had the opportunity to give back to Gender Diversity, an organization supporting parents and families of gender diverse children. They are a truly inspiring group of people, doing life-saving work through support and education. They were there for us when we needed them, and I am forever grateful and honored to have the opportunity to help others with them.

I have been inspired by the people I have served alongside over the years, and all the people our efforts have helped. Those experiences and memories are among my most cherished, and I look forward to creating more.

My wife, Paula, and I have been together since the mid-90s. We have a son, Jake, and a goofy German Shepherd dog named Pumpkin.

"Wait! That all sounds awesome!" You are right, it does! And it IS! The contrast you can't see is cast by how others experience me and the things I have done, and how I experience them. The life around me and my life with ADHD.

In 1976, as a child, and back before the term ADHD was in use,  I was diagnosed with a learning disability. I was held back a grade, given an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and placed in Special Education. Nobody told me what it all meant, or what I could do about it, other than work harder, try harder. And so, confusion and low self-image became woven into the story of my life.

Our stories, they influence and sometimes even define the choices we make. They dictate what we allow ourselves to reach for and achieve, and what we tolerate in our lives. And ultimately what we expect out of life, which can be very different from what we want in life. Following that old story of mine, I turned away from things I desired because I thought I could not achieve them. I have a new story now. Sure, some of those old chapters still exist, unedited, but taken in the light cast by the others, they simply add perspective now, instead of limitations.

This is why I am an ADHD Life Coach. To help others find their way to rewrite their stories. To help others reach for what is truly important to them and achieve those things. To help us all live more authentic, graceful, powerful, and rewarding lives.

Let's get after it!