Greet, listen, help, feed, gather. That seems to be the loop in my life - and I love it. 

My husband Seth and I grew up ten miles apart on the same dirt road, but didn't meet until after his wife passed. We met through our youngest kids being best buddies in preschool. Now we live on a hobby farm with cows, pigs, a horse, donkeys, goats, chickens, and five teenagers (his three, my two).

My mom was a nun for 18 years before meeting and marrying my dad. They adopted me at three weeks old through Catholic Charities. Old-school values meant we didn’t have a lot of conversations about “touchy” subjects. 

We lost my dad to aggressive skin cancer in the span of just two weeks. My mom passed six months later. By then I’d built a family that talks about EVERYTHING. Death doesn’t faze us. Drugs, religion, Taylor Swift, and money? We talk about all of it.

We built a pool last year - call it kid bait. We want the teenagers gathering at our house, around our table, in the pool. When the grandkids come, we want them gathering here too.

Even after all the blessings God has bestowed on our family, still I sometimes find myself afraid of losing everything and having to move my family into a cardboard box with not enough dollars to feed them. We all have insecurities around money.

Andrew has been asking me to join the team for years. I finally said yes when the kids got busy enough that I started forgetting how to talk to grownups. 

My job at Together Financial is to greet every person through the door, over the phone, and in the inbox. Listening, helping, and booking appointments (gathering) is second nature for me. Feeding might not exactly fit, but when you come into the office, at least I get to offer you coffee and snacks. 

And I'll probably ask too many questions. Around here, we talk about everything.

Watch Out World, Here I Come. At 16, my Dad and I built an aquaponics system to grow vegetables. We had to because he had cancer and lived entirely on freshly-juiced green vegetables for years. Buying that many veggies every week was crazy-expensive. 

That led me to almost starting a commercial tilapia farm (tilapia are the engine of an enclosed aquaponics ecosystem), but the math didn’t add up. And folks were skeptical of this blazer-sporting, 16-year old girl pitching them fish.  

As a kid I made jewelry and sold it door-to-door, taught piano lessons, plus I did lots of pet sitting and babysitting. 

At 18 I was working at the Feed & Grain, got promoted to Store Manager, and was suddenly managing 5 employees. 

I loved it all.

Whenever I asked my parents about college tuition, they would say “Don’t worry about it.” My five year plan was to get a degree, save up a down payment and buy a house. By 19, I had saved $50,000 for that down payment, but ended up having to spend it on college tuition. 

In my senior year of college I met my boyfriend, Avery, during our internship at a financial advising firm. He now works there fulltime. Meanwhile, his grandmother’s day-time dog-walker made the connection to Andrew that led me to join the team here at Thrivent, at Together Financial. 

In 2024 I bought my first house.

I know how life’s curveballs can mess with your expectations - and how you need to adapt so that life can lead you to delights you never expected.

Mom can do it. That’s what my four kids learned when the furnace went out while their dad was away for work. They learned it again when the microwave caught fire, and when it’s bath time and the 7 year old watches the 1 year old while I bathe the 2 and 4 year old. Sound chaotic? Being the mother of four is! Having my husband work 20 days away and 10 days home taught me to be super independent. I love that my daughters and son get to see that. 

When our second was just 4 ½ she got E. Coli and spent 10 days in the hospital. Our people showed up to help almost without me asking. Six months later, a friend’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer. I was in the room when the doctor shared the official diagnosis. While they were still reeling, my experience and presence of mind as an outsider allowed me to ask the doctor a dozen questions they might not have thought of for days or weeks, if ever. 

I want to use that independence and my experience stretching a young couple’s budget to help others get a grasp of their finances both week-to-week and in the long term. That’s why when Andrew asked me to join Together Financial Group, I thought “Mom can do that.” 

I was born in Loveland and went to Loveland High. I earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from UNC. We’ve been living in Johnstown since 2004. What else do we have in common? 

Confident and curious. That’s what my wife and I are raising our daughter to be. Which is why we’ve moved closer to town. To give her opportunities to do “stuff” and to have access to a variety of experiences. 

We used to live way out in the country. That’s where I grew up; in the country. Quintessential small-town America. It was great. I loved it. Plenty of space to be active and play sports with my younger brother. But I would also get bored sometimes because of my active mind. So, I learned to enjoy all types of puzzles. The more intricate the better. 

Little did I know then how useful my love of problem solving would be now. All the intricacies and moving parts of financial planning, the nuances and ramifications of changing just one thing; I enjoy it so much. I know, to most people that sounds less than exciting. But to me, I feel blessed. Every day I come to work I get to resolve all the moving parts of finance into plans that make sense. 

Pray. Teach. Do! Mom and Dad were teachers. Straight out of college, I followed in their footsteps. I coached track and football at Resurrection Christian School. I knew I was doing good work, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I might not be doing the right work.

I prayed on it, often and intermittently. I wasn’t discontent, but I had my radar up for opportunity.

I met Andrew at church. We talked about life. We talked about the future. Through a handful of meetings over the course of about a year, Andrew came to know me more deeply than some of my closest friends growing up. Talking through weighty topics has a way of doing that. Things like finances, of course, but also fatherhood, legacy, love, generosity.

It wasn’t a burning bush, but I heard God’s calling. I could take my love of teaching, coaching, and apply it in a different setting.

You see, financial planning isn’t a rigid, cram-for-the-test, pass/fail classroom situation. It’s a game of encouragement, determination, adaptability, and compassion - everything a good coach brings to the table. I’m not here to lecture or test you. I can’t do it for you. But I give my all to supporting each one of my clients and their particular dream for their future.

What’s your dream? I’ll help you get the ball down the field.

Family, faith and music. My mom was always doing things for other people - on top of taking good care of my brother and me. I didn’t realize how much effort that takes until I had two boys of my own.

Now, I appreciate her even more. Inspired by her, I set time aside for my boys and me to help others. It’s important that they learn to love God and their neighbors and respect their elders. (But they’re still teenagers…soooo…results may vary.) 

I’ve always loved the way music speaks to us in ways words can’t. That’s why I count it a blessing each Sunday I get to play piano for the choir at Redeemer Lutheran Church. Earlier in life, I taught music for several years; and I still sing off Broadway. (WAY off Broadway… you know, the shower.)

I first met Andrew in 2016, and shortly thereafter, became an advisor for the team. Within two years, I helped open a second location Fort Collins. That office happened to be across the street from my youngest’s elementary school, which let me take lunch breaks with him - what a privilege and joy!

Now ten years into practicing and licensed in multiple states, I enjoy the complex side of planning - untangling puzzles, balancing trade-offs, and exploring conversations where you can shape the vision of your future without locking yourself into rigid expectations and stressing over risks of failure. I know the first measure of a plan is its flexibility - its ability to adapt to an ever-changing reality, to your ever-changing life.

Helping others achieve financial clarity is just another form of teaching and serving, which I’ve been doing since I was knee-high at my mother’s side. Every job I've ever loved has been some version of the same answer: show up for people.

People not Parts. I am an only child with siblings. I’m 12 years younger than my next-older sister. My parents weren’t raising me in their 20’s and 30’s. I was raised by adults in their 50’s. My father is a Pastor. From him I learned the nature of “being in the know” and how to respect that privacy.  

On summer days through high school, I woke up at 5:00 AM. Together, my buddy, Matt and I drove the 25 minutes to the factory where we’d work 5:30 - 5:30, turning sheet metal into grain bin accessories in the sweltering heat of Iowa in July. After my “shift,” I rode my dirt bike to the farm and worked in the pumpkin patch until dark. Then it was home, dinner and sleep. 

On Saturdays, I’d work a half-day at the factory and then spend six hours manicuring 20 acres around the church. On Sunday, I had church in the morning, boating in the afternoon and relaxing at home in the evening. 

During the school year I’d shoot hoops religiously. In college, I could touch my elbow to the rim and throw down a two-handed alley-oop like gravity was optional. My biggest regret is not competing on the court in college. Instead, I went into mechanical engineering, studying the complexity of things that move under stress.  

Ultimately, though, I felt called to work more with people, not parts. When I build a financial plan for a client, I bring an engineer's attention to detail and the compassion of a pastor.