Although my parents never had the opportunity to attend college, they encouraged our participation in extra-curricular activities to prepare us, and I had an array of incredible experiences — FBLA State President, “Miss Congeniality” in a local pageant, Model UN, Utah Business Week, Sterling Scholar, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). Through these I learned confidence and the ability and comfort in standing in front of people and speaking.

As a classic middle child and Pisces (if you’re into that), I was precocious and sensitive to people being left out. As someone with a gregarious personality, unafraid to strike up conversation, I try to draw in people to conversations that may be shy or timid. Never did I realize in high school what a skill this would become later down the line.

A year into the pandemic, I was hired on by the company I’d taught with to recruit teachers to teach in China. I worked remotely in this role for a year and lived a nomadic life of sorts, visiting National Parks as I worked from coffeeshops, homes of friends and family, and hotels.

In late 2021 with no opportunity to return to China as planned, I did my favorite pivot dance and relocated to D.C. where I took a role at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In hindsight, this was written in the stars, because my first job as a 16-year-old was at my local Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce.

A Rotary Club member who I had interacted with when I was selected to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) several years before mentioned that the office manager had suddenly and unexpectedly left the role, and asked if I could step in for the summer. I became the one-woman show running the Chamber that summer, never expecting that years later I’d be working at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

I am a graduate student at The George Washington University pursuing my Masters of Arts in Global Communication, focusing on Public Diplomacy.

Rewind.

Growing up in rural Utah, my parents ensured my four siblings and I understood the value of hard work. Whether shingling houses, installing fences and digging post-holes — or to early mornings of my mom quizzing my sisters and I at the kitchen table on quiz bowl questions — my parents taught me to never give up.

In high school I had my first international experience on a two-week foreign exchange trip in Italy, and that planted a seed that continued to bloom throughout my life. After my first year at BYU I traveled with an NGO, Help International, to Uganda for the summer and put those manual labor skills to work as I immediately fell in love with the people I worked alongside. Two years later I served an LDS mission in Honduras for 18 months where I was challenged to learn Spanish — and get very humbled along the way.

Over the next several years, I travelled with a friend from the mission back to Central America to Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras. (Little did I know that friend would become my partner over a decade later.)

After graduating and working in hospitality with Marriott International and Ritz-Carlton, I uprooted my life to move to China for a year to teach English. At the conclusion of my contract I knew I wanted to return so moved to Utah to spend time with family as I worked on the visa. During this time, Covid struck and I pivoted.

Since 2022 I have been at the Chamber, and in Fall 2025 began my Masters program. The decision to return to school after a decade in the workforce was a conscious choice after extensive reflection. When I graduated from BYU in 2014 I knew I wanted to pursue a masters degree, but I knew I wanted to be certain what I wanted to do it in.

When I found the program, I knew it was the perfect fit — a combination of International Affairs but a focused skillset on communications through the lens of relationship-building, or public diplomacy. As a first generation college student, the pursuit was daunting.

I eagerly look forward to pursuing a career in public diplomacy in a role incorporating the technology and digital communications skills learned through my experiences and coursework.