My Story

Cascading dominoes. Rube Goldberg machines. Fuse boxes. Fighter jets. Unmanned vehicles. Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Ambassador - Welcome to my life!

After graduating from the University of California at Irvine with an engineering degree that I created there, I joined the aerospace industry and worked on military and commercial flight control systems.

But the strict processes and procedures we had to follow had me craving a fun, creative outlet. Then Red Bull gave me wings.

Through the power of networking, I teamed up with them to build a half-human, half-mechanical kluge at the old El Toro air base (California). The resulting video, The Athlete Machine, has racked up more than 37 million views, and counting! It also led to me competing in 2022 on “Domino Masters,” a TV series devoted to elaborate displays of falling rectangular blocks.

I’ve lived multiple roles, pivoted industries, and been laid off a few times (longest stent was 23 months). I’ve undergone many resume changes, and hundreds of applications. I’ve gotten jobs through different means, and worked onsite and fully remote. I’ve been promoted by advocating for myself and even “voluntold” into a role without even being asked for my opinion.

The biggest realization was that you cannot rely on others to achieve the Engineering career of your dreams. If you want to go into an engineering career with your eyes open, or if your career feels like its driving you rather than the other way round, you have to intentionally design your career yourself.

You have to become your own career champion – Your own Career Engineer.

My various roles and experiences in engineering as well as my passion for empowering my direct reports naturally set me on a path of guiding others down their own engineering journeys and mentoring budding engineers. It is my mission.

Drawing upon decades of experience and lessons learned, I’ve created unique courses that offer comprehensive overviews of what it takes to be an engineer as well as the nitty gritty of how to get there and then make shifts.

Change and success happen outside of the comfort zone. I empower engineers and aspiring engineers with the knowledge, tools, and strategies to confidently engineer and steer their own careers.

Are you ready to engineer your career?