I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. At the age of 13, I took an interest in web sites. I wanted to know what made them tick, and I wanted to know how I could make one for myself. I asked my father if he knew how, and his recommendation was to look it up online.

After years of teaching myself HTML and CSS, then PHP and javascript, I ended up taking a job in college as a web site manager for the University of Oregon Libraries. It was there that I was introduced to WordPress. After that, I knew making websites would never be the same again.

After college, I kept working for my boss from the U of O job, only to find myself yearning for something more. I reached out to a software company called Jama Software, where I applied to be an intern web developer and UX engineer. I got the internship, and after 3 months, they hired me on full-time.

I stayed with Jama for a little over a year before I felt a yearning again. This time, it was to go on a long bike tour. So, I packed up all my belongings and bought a touring bike and set out for British Columbia, where I toured the gulf islands for a few months.

Returning home, I continued to coast on my savings from my previous job, then decided I was going to focus on freelancing full time. This was back in 2011. I haven’t looked back since!