My path to Travel Advisor began as kid in a military family where I was fortunate enough to live in and visit many places, both nationally and internationally, while growing up. My best memories are of living in Japan and experiencing not only the Japanese islands, but also many countries in Southeast Asia with my family – listening to the Michael Jackson “Bad” cassette tape while driving through Thailand, eating peanuts at the Raffles Hotel lounge in Singapore, having breakfast with an orangutan in Indonesia…

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I also learned some hard, but important lessons, chief among which is that not everyone is as fortunate as many of us are in the United States. Walking through a dirty, windowless one-room schoolhouse in Malaysia while shoeless children tried to sell us coconuts and seeing their furniture-bare houses perched on stilts above a trash-filled river is something I will never forget. To this day I value travel not just for its fun moments, but just as importantly, for the perspective it gives you on the larger world.

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I continued to move and travel as a young adult for school, ultimately obtaining a Masters of Science in Earth Sciences at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. During my 10 years as a Geologist at ExxonMobil, I experienced wonderful opportunities for international travel in support of global drilling operations which took me to everything from offshore oil rigs in the Black Sea to contractor’s offices in Moscow.

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After leaving the energy industry to stay home after the birth of my second son, I adjusted my method of travel to experiencing the world’s cultures through recipes as a culinary school student. I have always loved cooking and exploring global flavors, so culinary school had long been a dream of mine. I didn’t know it then, but the seeds for my love of the Alps were first planted during my lessons on German-Italian culinary fusion in my World Cuisines class.

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Shifting from science to stay at home mom to the culinary arts was also my first experience with pivoting careers and was an invaluable lesson to me that your worth is more than your job title. There are so many exciting new ways to use many of the skills you already have if you are brave enough to surrender to being “new” at something again. After graduating, I spent two years working as a personal chef where I continued to learn about everything from cooking for specialty diets to how to quickly and efficiently prep healthy, flavorful meals.

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During this time, I was also traveling as much as possible and posting about it on social media. When the offer came to join Fora Travel, Inc. as a Travel Advisor, I knew deep down that it was the right next step in my journey, as well as a great opportunity to expand my family’s travel opportunities to allow my sons to experience the world just as I did when I was their age.

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I’m passionate about learning and being open to new experiences. In the last 20+ years I have also come to deeply believe that if you are open to following God’s calling for you (no matter how unclear it may sometimes seem!), He will always lead you in the path of abundant growth, invaluable experiences and truly great people.