A path built
by doing.

I didn't start in technology.

I grew up around people who believed that when something needed to be done, you figured out how to do it.

I was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and moved to Brazil when I was ten. My dad worked in construction and was the kind of person who took on projects himself—carpentry, masonry, plumbing, electrical work, whatever the job demanded. He didn't have an extensive formal education, but he had something I came to admire just as much: practical intelligence, resourcefulness, and the willingness to learn.

I returned to the United States on my own at eighteen. I felt ready to take on the world. It turned out I still had plenty to learn. Over the years I lived in Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, taking opportunities as they came and learning from the ones that didn't work out the way I expected.

Construction was my first professional foundation. I worked across landscaping, hardscaping, drywall, painting, carpentry, and job-site safety. I spent two years working as a safety carpenter in Manhattan. Most days I woke up at 5 a.m. to start work at 7 and didn't get home until around 7 or 8 p.m. Once, complications kept me on-site so late that I got home after 11 p.m. I went back to work the next day. Those were demanding days, and they gave me a firsthand understanding of the effort behind a finished project.

More than anything, the trades taught me about structure: every project depends on many different systems, each with steps and complexities of its own. Nothing is finished until those pieces come together. I learned to think about the complete job, including what it asks of the people doing the work.

But I started asking myself a question: What else could I learn while I was young enough to try, fail, and improve?

I had always been quiet, and conversations didn't come naturally. So I chose sales. In New Jersey, I began selling digital marketing. It forced me to listen, explain value, handle rejection, and get comfortable talking with people. I often took two trains and a bus to work. I still remember turning up to one of my first meetings at an elementary school in a suit with my boss, trying very hard to look experienced. The staff thought I was adorable. It was a funny reminder of just how new I was to that world.

When the pandemic made that commute increasingly difficult, I moved into a granite manufacturing business. I was responsible for bids and marketing, and closed an apartment-building contract worth more than $300,000. I also sold complete kitchens and bathrooms worth tens of thousands, staying involved from the first conversation to site measurements, pricing calculations, and sometimes delivery. I received thank-you cards and tips from customers who appreciated the way I looked after them. I became someone the manager relied on and learned what it means to take care of the entire experience, not just close a deal.

I've always been interested in technology. When I had an opportunity to join an IT managed-services provider in marketing, I took it. My current official title is IT GRC Analyst, but I continue working across marketing, websites, sales enablement, campaigns, quoting, and internal development. I completed a cybersecurity diploma and earned CompTIA certifications. I've also spent considerable time researching buyer psychology, business-owner motivations, and the way people's decisions are shaped by context. That research informs campaigns that respond to genuine changes in laws, requirements, and customers' responsibilities.

I don't see those chapters as unrelated careers. Each one added a different kind of judgment: how to build, how to communicate, how to sell, how to evaluate risk, and how to turn a business idea into practical work.