My college essay was entitled The Road not Taken. In hindsight, it was prophetic.

My professional life began in retail where I earned formal leadership recognition early on but alas, while retail was a good college and post-college job to have, it was never a profession I felt drawn to. Clarity and fortitude landed me a job calling on orthopedic surgeons in the OR. My technical knowledge, gained from training that at times felt like I was going to be the one holding the knife, earned me this privilege and that of attending weekly Grand Rounds. This experience launched a progressive eight-year tenure in medical device sales, global product management, and regional sales management.

The plan was to keep climbing the corporate ladder with a VP role but when I lost a parent who would often tell me how short life is, I decided that I wanted to step off the ladder for a bit. I made a proposal to HR: I would take a sabbatical to learn a third language whilst working abroad to further develop my international business skills. This would position me for an internationally based position within the organization. When I was told that this was only possible if I were adopting a child or taking family leave, I decided to resign and do it anyway. I cashed in my hard-earned stock options, bought an Italian language course, and solicited strategically chosen wineries with handwritten notes to land a dream job working in sales channel development for the export division of a family-owned producer. The Mazzei family has been producing wine since 1435. After work, I would drive to Siena, a still fortified medieval town in the heart of the Chianti hills of Tuscany, to the university for Italian lessons.

I would have stayed in Europe working for big pharma but after eight months I learned that Visa rules had changed and that I was no longer legal. I would have to leave the country for at least 3 months and so I returned to America. Consulting for a lung cancer non-profit brought me to the patient side of a challenging type of cancer and allowed me the opportunity to bring the Denver metro lung cancer community together for the first fundraiser there. I planned and executed the event, bringing thousands to the foundation and further establishing physician influencers. More fundraising, vis-a-vis venture capitalists, and partnership development were in-store through my work for a high-tech start-up. I taught myself about semiconductors and their applications in high-frequency amplifiers, power devices, and LEDs. There I raised $3MM in angel and venture capital and built key partner relationships, one of which was to provide a significant manufacturing ramp up with a multi-million dollar letter of intent. But, we were in a classic chicken or the egg scenario and with investors at the time not bullish on manufacturing where the ROI can span a decade, the business eventually had to shut down. It was time to take a bigger step toward my mission.

Envisioning and achieving what’s possible for others to thrive

I took a deeper dive into my long-standing practice of yoga and in the process discovered the field of Yoga Therapy. Yoga Therapists adapt the principles and practices of yoga for those facing medical conditions. It was a Eureka moment. I could work more directly to empower patients, start my own practice and with clinic work, help change the minds of western trained health care practitioners who address symptoms, not the root cause or for that matter, the person seated in front of them. In the west, it’s called integrative medicine. I chose an intense program that involved six months of personal integration between 8 sessions of in-person instruction over more than four years. During the course of the program, I opened my studio office first in Denver, Colorado, then in Durango, located in the southwest corner of the state.

I have a deep urge for mastery and achievement whether academically, professionally, or personally. So when I “failed” as a Yoga Therapist in private practice, I had to take a big - and painful - step back to understand why I wasn’t successful. Certainly, there were external factors, a big one being that insurance has yet to cover integrative medicine modalities. But, I’ve come to learn among other things that “failure” is just a signpost. If one chooses to do so, it’s a tremendous opportunity to take a hard look at your strengths and opportunities. I learned in pitching to venture capitalists that this is one reason why many prefer to invest in a company whose CEO had failed at a previous venture. One key realization for me is that I thrive on collaborating with a team, not in solo practice. Another is that I’ve come to believe that this work, along with everything that came before, will eventually pave the way for me to impact the lives of not hundreds but potentially millions.

I strongly considered going back to school to become a Physician’s Assistant and so, I reached out to my local hospital to inquire about shadowing one. After several weeks spent observing a well-respected PA in a busy primary care office I could easily see myself in the role and found it terribly exciting as you never quite knew what condition you would be seeing next. However, I realized that I would be mired in a western healthcare model, one that treats symptoms not the patient as a whole, and has, in fact, done very little to address wellness. My Yoga Therapy certification came with a sobering reality. The extent of dis-ease in our country and how ill-equipped our healthcare system is to reverse this course is of Titanic proportions. Any attempt to steer the ship back on course must be a radical one and for me, there is a sense of urgency as I live into those words that echo in my ear, life is short.

My next role, like those before, will be undertaken with a high degree of motivation and drive. A strong sense of responsibility to the organizations and the people I have worked for extends to my family and friends. They have called me kind, compassionate, unflappable, an exceptional communicator and storyteller, a thinker and organizer, sharp, thorough, optimistic, and determined.

Thank you for getting to know me and I look forward to getting to know you! May your road bring you great health, wellness, and joy.