A Phoenix native, I began my career in the travel industry while still in college, with an international student travel agency - quickly working my way from customer service advisor to corporate travel manager. Upon graduating with my dual major in English and Secondary Education, I taught grade school while directing marketing and sales for a luxury travel agency in Scottsdale. An award-winning educator, I've worked collaboratively with the US Department of State to develop internationally-minded programming and curricula, and became an ambassador teacher to a rural region of São Paulo state, Itapetininga. After several years of working simultaneously in education and the travel industry, I chose to leave the teaching profession and engage solely in the realm of luxury travel, where I am able to engage in my passions to create transformative, authentic and immersive travel experiences for others. I approach travel much as I approached teaching – the travel experience is an opportunity to grow, learn and appreciate that which we might not find readily in ourselves.