About Me. My Long Story.
This is my long story, not my full story. I wanted to share the details of my journey's ups and downs, the tests and trials that led me through and into the clarity I have today. I broke it into chapters or life-acts that represent big steps in my journey. I hope you enjoy it, and to learn your story someday.
1982-2004 | I GREW UP.
I was born on a farm in the bed I was conceived in, on April 13, 1982. My parents still live a life in union with Mother Earth because they believe it's what is right. They taught me from a young age to follow your heart, and that a dream is a gift you give yourself. So after 18 years of growing up and experiencing a love-full-healthy-life, grounded in the heart of central Wisconsin, I found myself pursuing a dream of performing in and managing an a cappella group turned band, that shared happiness & joy with others through music.
The group lasted 6 years, from when I was 16 to 23 years old. The last 3 of those years we were signed with national agencies, management, and production companies, touring nationally, performing on average 150 shows per year in over 35 states. We recorded with Bill Champlin from the infamous band, CHICAGO, wrote with songwriters who wrote melodies for the infamous Jackson 5 to NSYNC & Backstreet Boys, performed in front of tens of thousands, and almost broke into international success with major labels. I was immersed in the entertainment industries of music, modeling, fashion, & nightlife, working with some of the worlds greatest artists, venues, brands & companies. I spent most of my time on the road; if not working or recording in Manhattan, Las Vegas, or Orlando with our producer. I loved the feeling of producing a note from within me that when combined with 3 other notes creates harmony, which resonates outward into the world and literally emotionally affects people from its vibration. It was an honor and a pleasure.
Once it suddenly ended due to legal conflicts with our record company, I was devastated. I moved from Manhattan, NY back to my family in WI to process and heal. I learned a very important lesson in my months of internal, deep depression & reflection-- that I never had control, it was all a gift, that I could make a dream come true... and that I loved doing it. Then my dad reminded me I was too big for WI and needed to get back into the world and apply these gifts and lessons into a new dream...
2005-2014 | I LEARNED WHO AND WHY I AM.
So I moved to Chicago in the fall of 2005, and started a creative consultancy, CREOVISIO, to help others create their dreams. After years of working with hundreds of clients predominantly in the entertainment & hospitality industries to help launch careers & venues, sell out crowds at the House of Blues, and launch to become internationally renowned restaurants and hotels, I decided it was time for me to start working on my own dreams again. This brings us to 2008 as online & e-commerce businesses were starting to take off. I sourced investment capital in multiple businesses to showcase online agencies, marketing opportunities, & use my network, business development, & marketing skills to connect individuals & businesses for mutual benefit, which led to YouSwoop. This daily deal website launched off the coattails of Groupon in the winter of 2011, & within 3 months we were generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue per month and receiving multi-million dollar offers. At year's end, with 300,000 email subscribers, 50 employees, a national corporate partnership with Leo Burnett, and a trailing 12-month revenue of 5 million+, I learned how quickly businesses (that is, dreams) can take off with intentional use of the internet. And, I also started to feel, deep within, a thirst to align this new awareness with a deeper calling. After 3 years of unbelievable growth, I resigned as CEO of YouSwoop to follow that calling...
In 2014 I returned to my roots and began helping people and the planet through philanthropy and wellness services with an online donation-rewards platform, Selfless. We raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity and partnered with Chicago’s top businesses like Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Boka Group, EQUINOX, and dozens of global charities. Yet, we ran into major issues with the website, development team, and investors. This all culminated to illuminate how my feeling to help more was intended to happen through a different dream. In January 2015, on a whim feeling of wanting to bring like-minded, mindful people to-gather, I started VIBEUP; a lifestyle company aimed to increase consciousness by connecting people and ideas that spark positive change through education, practice, and community. It was not intended to be a business, but it immediately showed me it was much bigger than me and gained legs of its own, as it was needed, people wanted it...In order to lead it at the level I needed to, I had to prepare more.
2015-2019 | I WOKE UP AND PROCESSED LIFE.
After some divine intervention and events worth sharing in a different medium at another time, I ended up living on the beaches of Mexico on a eco-regenerative mindfulness resort. I worked with neuroscientists, quantum physicists, biologists, renown teachers, philanthropists and more, learning how to replicate the conscious-union of Self in others with spirit, God, Mother Earth, nature -- whatever you call it -- I call it Source. Learning the dual and non-dual oneness; the evolutionary and enlightenment unfolding that is our bodies and spirits as one. This led me down a path of Self-discovery + experimentation from 2016 through 2020. I literally witnessed my consciousness decrease while practicing lower forms vibrational choices in the four quadrants; internal, external, relationships, environment... All while knowing this was happening so I could learn what practices, tools, and support we as humans can possess to support living in a consistent, stable state of increased resonant frequency. With this new found awareness of our energy and spirit bodies relationship with gravity itself ascending... I started to feel my innate responsibility for putting this awareness and potential to use. Meanwhile, our VIBEUP festivals continued reaching thousands of mindful, active enthusiasts, with global sponsors, teachers, and leaders such as; Mark Groves, Kathryn Budig, Chelsey Korus, Elena Brower, Koya Webb, DJ Drez, Dr. Michael Cotton, and Celebrity Chef Rick Bayless. The brand also spawned into community management services for numerous multi-family, high-rise real-estate development properties, where VIBEUP was able to bring wellness, events, & marketing into the core of where tens of thousands of people were living. I now had a brand, network, & foundation to launch this mission.
2020-2023 | I WENT ON MY HEALING JOURNEY, RETURN TO SELF.
In order to truly be what I am, I knew I needed to learn how to adhere to practices that aligned with the destiny I've chosen. In other words, learn how to find harmony as an energy-being in the midst of this chaotic universe, and the strength in awareness and discipline to maintain it. For once I decide to be the leader I am offered to be for myself and others, there will be no going back, and my character will be molded by my consistency to this responsibility of leading upward movement in gravity’s organic ascension. At least for years to come. So I spent these years in solitude, experimenting and experiencing how different choices affected my being-ness; my mood, skills, clarity, health, etc. I put myself through a 200 hour yoga teacher training rooted in its philosophies, and went on over 20 global retreats to deepen my knowledge and practice. I knew I had all the pieces, and also that I wasn't quite ready. Something was missing yet within me. Then Covid-19 hit.
The silver lining for me is that Covid-19's isolation gave me the chance to pivot my businesses online, and leave the lower vibrational frequencies of Chicago's bustling city and get back to my roots in Wisconsin, to ground with nature and family, acquire land from where I came, and prepare. I had the chance to choose to slow myself down and put myself in deep reflection, patience, and compassionate work within my-Self. After 9 months of this in 2020, it was time to take it even further... I left the States at the end of 2020 and embarked on a 12 month journey of self discovery across 13 states in Mexico, ultimately landing me back rooted in Wisconsin, USA, except with a new perspective on it all. Healing became my purpose, to be the change, from within. By healing self, we help heal all. It truly starts within.
I now became ready to build a foundation of team members and partners who share a vision to increase consciousness in the human species. To help people and the planet. I've become confident that this is not only my mission, but my responsibility to now share this story with the world. To help us heal ourselves and the Planet by taking responsibility for the choices we make and their effects.
2024 | IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING.
It's just the beginning to the rest of my life... to why I'm here and giving that to myself and the world. As 2024 begins we are launching VIBEUP and beginning construction on the infrastructure and first homes on the oceanfront property we're developing in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Together they represent a place for the movement in mindfulness to come together and grow online, connect offline, and live in harmony with nature.
To be continued...