I started my professional career working in music retail in 1998, and continued off and on through various roles for another 14 years. I learned a lot about how to run a business that paired products and services strategically. I brought this knowledge with me when I opened a brand new school as their first instrumental music teacher. In the first 3 years, I tripled the size of the band and orchestra program, and created a lasting impact for many of those students — some of whom are teachers themselves now.

I left teaching full time and opened my own private lesson studio. Living in a town with two universities, I decided differentiation was my friend. I came to specialize in non-traditional students: those with physical, emotional, and cognitive challenges. Homeschoolers, retirees, and the students who just weren't successful with other teachers. This experience not only taught me a lot about how to run a business, but even more about how to adapt any skill to a wide variety of learners.

I returned to the classroom part-time while building my online music education business. While teaching K–8 at a private school, I was also speaking at conferences across the country, presenting online workshops and webinars, hosting and producing a podcast in collaboration with MakeMusic, publishing four books for music educators, and building a robust network of friends and colleagues around the world. Their influence drove me to create the first multi-day, topic-inclusive online conference for music educators: the International Music Education Summit.

From 2016 to 2021 I was also privileged to use my skills as a music educator to lead the community band in Grand Junction, Colorado. During my tenure, the band grew by 30% — and didn't dissolve during the pandemic. I designed a method for delivering online rehearsals and virtual performance projects, so the band community could continue during the time of separation. Operationally, I rebuilt the band website, redesigned the logo, and created passive revenue streams and fundraising strategies. It was one of the greatest honors of my life to serve my community in this capacity.

Thanks to my experience in adapting learning for online and remote delivery, I was able to support thousands of music educators through the COVID-19 pandemic. I co-founded a Facebook group that connected educators with industry support and provided resources for student success and teacher sustainability. I was able to use the framework I created for hosting conferences to deliver an additional 18 live events from 2020 to 2021.

In the summer of 2020, I was acquired by the Conn-Selmer corporation to design their digital education ecosystems. Which leads me to…

When I graduated with my MBA in 2012, the first thing I did was dedicate myself to building a portfolio of work. I offered a wide range of business strategy projects: financial analysis and recommendations, new business strategies, program design, positioning strategy, digital product architecture. It was this foundation that allowed me to design and build my own online ecosystems that would support thousands of educators.

I also began to serve on nonprofit boards. I was PTA president at my children's elementary. I served on funding and strategy committees. I became Board President and CEO of a trails alliance that worked with federal agencies and trail user groups. I served on a district foundation and designed a scholarship program for professional development that has, to date, given out more than $250,000 in funds. I currently serve on the development and strategic planning committees for the Colorado Brass.

My work at Conn-Selmer led me to design multiple strategies for educational products and services: an LMS populated with relevant educational content for educators which served as lead collection and nurturing; six online communities segmenting the audience and providing strategic insight for the institutional sales department; two online conferences for the corporation, and dozens more for organizations in need.

When Conn-Selmer purchased MusicProfessor.com in 2021, I became the digital product manager. I was able to build and execute the full product strategy — from integrating into the corporate environment, to redesigning the UI/UX, to creating a roadmap to address customer objections. I worked with SMEs to design and film 13 educational courses, then worked with 35+ performing artists to film and produce masterclasses. This work allowed me to flex my instructional design skills and learn how to run a video production studio. In 18 months, we produced more than 3,000 individual lesson videos, thanks to my strategic frameworks and a hardworking team. The strategies we implemented to leverage MusicProfessor.com to drive institutional instrument sales netted $1.25M attributed revenue in the first year alone.

When the strategy was proven successful, corporate leadership pivoted me to Artist Relations. There, I was able to redesign the artist management process — redefining agreements, negotiating with some of the most prominent musical artists in the world, and simultaneously rationalizing the artist database and recruitment policies. Designing and implementing the refreshed artist ecosystem improved artist relationships, streamlined how the team worked with artists, and saved the company thousands of dollars and time.

In 2023, I left the corporate world to work freelance designing and building educational products and experiences for even more international organizations. I founded the Music Teacher Guild and have built all of their programs, courses, AI tools, and community. I established the organization as a nonprofit and brought on the first board of directors. I was rehired by Conn-Selmer to design their customer training portal, and then by Roland to architect and build their Artist and Partner portal.

Simultaneously, I was working to complete my doctorate in Instructional Design. I adore research and continue to leverage my research skills through every project and product I design. When AI became mainstream, I took to it like a duck to water — and saw immediately the implications and opportunities it could have for solopreneurs like me.

I began learning AI formally in 2023. By mid-2024 I was building my own AI apps and custom GPTs. When 2025 opened, I passed my Certified AI Consultant exam through the United States Association of AI. I quickly began to design processes and strategies for getting the best outputs more rapidly and effectively — and noticed a pattern. It's the same pattern I used to build every educational ecosystem to date: Clarity, Alignment, Leverage, and Manifest.

I created the C.A.L.M. AI Navigator™ framework, filed a trademark, and wrote a book. I began giving conference presentations about the framework, prompt sequencing, how to build your own custom AI learning bot, and how to use AI effectively in everyday life. But all use cases, all outputs come down to the same thing: building capacity and leverage.

I'm not here to hand you 1,000 useless prompt templates. I'm here to teach you how to write your own 1,000 very useful prompts. I'm here to bring you all of the experience and techniques I've accumulated over a lifetime of teaching and learning, so I can teach you how to learn AI the best way for you.

Built With AI Building with AI, not just about it. The work, the visuals, the workflows — all road-tested in real practice before they ever land in a workshop or a client engagement.