Who I Am
I’ve spent the past 25 years leading and developing teams across industries — from child care and retail to call centers and global sales. My career began as an After School Child Care Director and Camp Director with the YMCA, where I managed staff across multiple sites and learned the power of creating supportive environments for both children and adults.
From there, I became a Training Store Manager with Blockbuster Video, traveling to different locations to coach leaders on team management and marketing. Later, I served as Director of a 130‑person call center for a travel company, overseeing hiring, performance, and excellence measures while mentoring managers who led frontline staff. Most recently, I’ve led a sales team responsible for a $70 million annual budget in the travel industry, guiding five managers and their teams of 40 sales professionals.
Through every role, one theme has remained constant: I believe in the work hard, play hard philosophy. I’ve seen firsthand that when people feel connected, supported, and energized, performance and retention soar. I’ve promoted countless individuals into the next steps of their careers, and I’ve built programs that help leaders grow with confidence.
The Backstory: Adult Recess
During the pandemic, I began hosting monthly gatherings for my team — simple activities like knock‑out, flag football, casual chats in the park, or virtual games like Mafia. What started as a way to stay connected quickly grew in popularity, with people outside my team asking to join. The results were undeniable: stronger bonds, better performance, and higher engagement.
That’s how Adult Recess was born. It’s more than just play — it’s a structured approach to team bonding and leadership development. In 2016 I created 5 leadership sessions for aspiring leaders, and since then have implemented it over a dozen times, and due to its popularity, have expanded to creating content for leaders in their first and second year, as well as more advanced content for tenured leaders. These programs have been widely embraced since 2016, equipping leaders with tools they can’t learn from a textbook alone.
Today, Adult Recess offers personalized experiences for businesses, schools, churches, community groups, and more! Whether it’s a one‑time event, teaching you how to implement these principles and content, or providing a personalized plan and implementing it for your group virtually or in person, every plan is tailored to the unique needs of the team with the information you share. I have also been trained in Myers Briggs (2007), Predictive Index (2015), and Enneagram (2017), I bring proven frameworks to help people understand themselves and each other — all while keeping the spirit of play alive while growing as a team and increasing performance and retention.