I loved Cheaper by the Dozen — not because I wanted more siblings, but because the parents optimized everything. While the book described children mortified by their father's efficiency methods, I was in my bedroom trying to replicate them.

I’ve always been that person: the one who liked to get things done as efficiently and effectively as possible. However, loving organization naturally sets you up for roles in work, and life, as the fixer, the planner, and the cruise director of other people’s chaos.

At work in both marketing and technology companies, I was the one handed something nebulous and asked to deliver it. I scaled customer success teams to 70+ people, managed hundreds of millions of dollars in ARR, and led my teams through mergers while keeping 100% of my people when others fled. I redesigned workflows, implemented change management strategies, and built the systems that made chaos manageable for both customers and teams.

At home, I'm a stepmother navigating complex family dynamics, extended family politics, and the invisible labor of managing relationships I didn't create but am expected to maintain. I'm the default adult. The holiday organizer. The unaccredited therapist and project manager of situations that were never mine to begin with.

But what I was really doing in all facets of my life was bringing clarity to chaos and building the systems that made it manageable.

After two decades in some type of customer management/client services role, though, I was exhausted. Not from the work but from watching smart, capable leaders repeating the same patterns. Setting too many, and often competing, priorities. Rolling out another project management tool without addressing underlying problems. Staying stuck because they didn’t step back to see the way forward. 

I realized I didn't want another VP role where I'd fix someone else's chaos only to watch it break after I left. Real organizational change requires addressing the entire system — the dependencies, interconnections, and ways teams actually work together. Anything else is patching holes without creating lasting change. 

I wanted to build systems that truly solved problems and help people learn to build their own. So I left. And today, I'm a writer and advisor.

I write Stepping In It, a newsletter for anyone navigating relationships and responsibilities that don’t come with instructions — blended families, workplace dynamics, family logistics — and what happens when you’re the person everyone turns to when things fall apart. You’ll see essays about my experiences on Tuesdays and an advice column on Fridays. 

And I work with people who are stuck in chaos — leaders, founders, working mothers juggling too much — helping them design operating systems for their actual lives. Not generic frameworks or just setting up an app. Custom architecture that accounts for their reality: competing priorities, limited time, and multiple dependencies. It’s not about a new planner: it’s about understanding how you work, how you process, and what obstacles are in your way.

My approach is simple: Get clear. Get sorted. Get going. 

I don't do motivation or mindset work. I don't believe in hustling harder or "finding balance." I believe in engineering better systems — the step-by-step frameworks that make execution possible even when everything's competing for attention.

I bring 20 years of executive-level operations expertise, radical candor, and humor. Because if you can't laugh at being the person everyone dumps their problems on, you'll drown in it.

What I believe:

The people who "step in" aren't martyrs; we're pragmatists who see what needs to happen and know no one else will do it. But we still deserve systems that make our lives manageable. We deserve clarity when we're stuck. And we deserve to stop carrying everyone else's chaos without any infrastructure of our own.

That's what I build. For myself. For my clients. And through my writing, for anyone who's ever been told "you've got this" when you've got it, but you don't necessarily want it.

If you're stuck, let's talk.

Also, if you haven’t read “Cheaper by the Dozen,” and are not familiar with Lillian Moller Gilbreth, at least read her wikipedia page. Not enough people are talking about this absolutely legendary scientist who was breaking gender barriers early and often.