I was fortunate to experience several large scale church conference events in Maryland at some of the biggest churches in the DMV. The first event that I had the privilege to be at was a women's conference that some women from my church invited me to. Before this, I had never experienced a large-scale event that included full sound systems and visuals and lots of other things that helped form the event altogether. One of my adult leaders at the time introduced me to their in-house sound guy to watch and shadow while he was running the service since they had known I had an interest in that field; that was the moment I determined that I wanted to do exactly what he was doing for my future career. He was running audio while also calling out video cues, simultaneously making sure event part of the service was running as it should within the perfect time frame. Not only did this experience show me that audio production was not the only part, but one of many in a field that I could explore and build my own craft. I didn't know it at the time but that one experience would influence me now to want to pursue digital production in audio/video and eventually start my own company some day to help Christian artists/churches with their visual and audio goals, empowering more women like me to pursue this industry too.

My personal faith has always been a rocky path. Not necessarily from doubt or unbelief in God, but from the shame I felt when I would often want to talk about my faith around my family. Yet in the presence of Jesus, I felt more safe and secure than any of my family could give me. I have every reason to thank God for where I am now being able to pursue a path within ministry as I truly don’t believe I may be alive today without being able to confide in Jesus. Throughout middle school I identified as transgender, which at the time I did not know was a way my brain was trying to find some sort of acceptance and love from others that my parent I was living with couldn’t give me fully. From that resulted many different adverse situations that may have led me down a totally different path away from God. It is truly by His grace that I was accepted by leaders at my local church, despite me still identifying as transgender at the time, and loved by them unconditionally as I tried navigating what I really needed; Jesus. Being shown the true love of God through the people at my church would be transformational in me accepting Jesus as my savior and eventually pursing a path in ministry. I often find myself being stubborn with God when He tells me to do something due to my own anxiety, despite the end result of saying “yes” is the right decision. Learning to trust God has been the biggest challenge as I begin to start my own life transition into adulthood, but slowly every day His plan proves that its always better no matter how I feel at the time. I plan on pursing a career directly involved in ministry starting at Potomac School of Leadership, a faith-based school that attracted me by the amount of actual hands on work done for ministry. With my focus in creative arts, hopefully to maybe one day own a studio or production space that helps minority groups (like women’s, Hispanic, African Americans, low income students) that are typically brushed over for their talents or not able to access spaces to explore their skills and build their own dreams/careers within the Christian music or entertainments industries. Although my hope is to make it a faith-based space, I believe the arts are one of the best forms of therapy for students who are figuring life out and what their place is in the world. To be able to provide that “third space” - a space outside of home and work/school that provides some sort of fulfillment of self. I have confidence that this “third space” can change the lives of young people for the better.

I think I’ve demonstrated leadership in many different ways. If I had to pick a time where I felt like I was actually leading for the first time had to be at a local sports camp I chose to volunteer at and have been since every year that I was able to. Barely 13, I was trusted to help lead kids in group games and sports drills, making sure all the kids could be involved to eventually be an assistant coach in my last year of volunteering. Another time could be leading worship for my local church; a huge responsibility that I didn’t think I would be able to handle and took a lot of work to find the confidence to do so. Looking back I would probably cringe for how I did some things, but I am able to recognize the growth I have done from mentors that I was privileged to work with over the years. The turning point for my experience of leadership would be the acceptance into a local discipleship program with my local church district in 2020. Initially I had a totally different - and wrong - perception of what this program would be, what I thought would be a fun couple month of church trips ended up learning important aspects of leadership and creating an online ministry. Deemed as “The Questions Project”, my goal was to create a safe space for those who didn’t have it to ask questions about Christianity by creating an anonymous form that they could input their questions to which I, along with accredited pastors from around the nation, would answer through online videos posted on Instagram every week or so. I did this project consistently for about 2 years being able to reach thousands of people around the world, answering over 60 questions with 12 hours of video time. From this step in leadership gave me opportunities to speak to over 1,000 students at large conference events, teach sessions about stepping out in faith and write dozens of short sermons for sharing. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this if it weren’t for the mentors that encouraged me along the way while also teaching me humility; that leadership isn’t about being a leader for control or for the pride but to guide others into that joint leadership and include everyone in the activity, putting yourself second. I plan on going to Potomac School of Leadership to begin to fine tune my leadership skills to hopefully eventually own a record label or studio that helps minority groups (like women, Hispanic, African Americans, low income students) that are typically brushed over for their talents or not able to access spaces to explore their skills and build their own dreams/careers within the Christian music or entertainments industries. I believe in the arts being one of the best forms of therapy especially for students who are figuring life out, and being able to provide that “third space” - a space outside of home and work/school that provides enjoyment or fulfillment of self. This “third space” I have confidence in can change the lives of students for the better.

Music is the only thing that has remained a constant throughout my life. From a young age my dad has always played music around me and as I began to develop my own music tastes, I was able to get deeper into why genres I enjoyed were enjoyable. After being 1st French horn and trumpet in intermediate band, I chose to pursue other music things outside of an educational setting because I didn't feel like the educational setting of school band was expanding what I wanted to pursue. I started learning piano, guitar, and bass as well as the more technical side of stuff like producing and micing live events through my local community college. I always love going to concerts big or small to connect with the music, especially those local to home in Harford and Baltimore counties. It's so fascinating how humans can create something out of thin air to produce some kind of emotion that can connect with thousands of people. I remember in 6th grade going to a youth camp and seeing a guitarist on stage play the craziest solo I've ever seen that truly started my love for music that wasn't from my dad. Even though I love doing the live aspect of music playing on stage, I've more recently found more liking to doing the studio side of music. Thankfully I have been able to break into the industry a bit to see how the live production part of music works in many different ways, but I want to get actual training through college to work for bigger events outside of a local church. My dream of going to college for live event production in the music industry is to eventually own my own studio or production company to help Christian artists of pop-punk or rock genres, or those who do not want the traditional industry style recording/production, while emphasizing empowering women in the industry. In the short time I've been able to shadow people within the industry whether in live events or in the studio, the female artists I've been able to work with were so thankful to have a woman on the team to help build their vision of their art. Not only that, but helping build a new front of the music genre with midwest-country-rock with the recent emergence of artists like Noah Kahan or Chance Pena. Being able to reach the smaller and newer artists to help get their feet off the ground with a great produced product for labels to see would be the most fulfilling thing I think I could do in this life, knowing that the music I helped produce is making an impact.

My volunteer experience ranges widely from within a church setting and animal shelters, to camps and sports coaching. I see volunteering as an integral part of my identity; an act I feel that I need to do when I can. From the first time I volunteered by handing out communion cups to my local church congregation, this demonstrated that even the smallest act impacted people in much different or heavier ways than we can sometimes perceive. I didn't know at the time a small piece of bread and wine would cause a mother to cry as she felt the comfort and love of those around her, or the veteran holding the wine that no longer represented death but new life in Christ. Being able to do something that may not affect me for benefit but be able to influence and benefit those being served is a win for me. The hospitality shown to me by those who volunteered in the same place I do when I was in a very difficult place, those people being able to help pull me out of that place, showed me that volunteering isn't always about the payout. Sure, it's great to hold a big event with lots of volunteers and have lots of people be served; but the people who volunteered to sit with me to talk, take me to church on their own time, or provide food when I needed it are the ones that I will never be able to forget. Without volunteers, the world would not be able to run! Ask any church, religious gathering, or nonprofit, and each one will say "We couldn't do this without our volunteers." I am one of those volunteers, a product of the older volunteers who showed me how they were able to help me when I needed it. This is how I learned how a career can stem from a life of volunteering and serving those before yourself. I believe communication is the core at which volunteering can make an impact on those being served, whether it be a simple smile from a church sound booth or learning about someone's life story while handing out canned foods. Without learning this aspect of volunteering that can be often overlooked, I don't think I would have been exposed to the art of being able to communicate with the world around us. My goal in pursuing a career in Communications ranges from a musical aspect of producing what an artist is trying to convey to their audience that fosters a community, to working on a corporate level that ensures clients and their products are cared for. This stemmed from my contribution to working behind the scenes at a local church on their AV/Production team handling lighting procedures and audio engineering that DID help create that space, and my experience in communicating through a ministry I helped create called The Questions Project in my sophomore year of high school that has helped thousands of students online and in person find peace with their faith. I didn't have to do any of these volunteering activities - but I chose to do them because of the impact of those who served in the same places I do now I feel compelled to follow in their footsteps.