What has been a defining moment in your leadership journey, and how did it shape you?
Second grade. Miss Whiz asked the class to vote between two solutions, and every single hand went up for the first one except mine. I knew the second was right, but I was eight years old and no child wants to be the one who sticks out. I raised my hand anyway, mumbled my reasoning when she called on me, and sat there with my cheeks burning when she confirmed I was correct. It was a small moment, but it planted something I have carried ever since: leadership can be lonely, and the pressure to go with the majority is real. You have to be willing to stand by your conviction even when every hand in the room is pointing the other way.
How did your Leadership Foundation experience shift your perspective on leadership and prepare you for new responsibilities?
The biggest shift was realizing that leadership is not about the titles you hold. It is about the people you shape. When I was younger, I found myself chasing titles because I believed it gave you access, a seat at the table, the ability to influence change. While titles can open doors, it is not what keeps them open. Reflecting back on each Foundation program I moved through at different points in my career, what I found was that you can influence and impact from every level. The table was never the point. The people around it were.
What's a lesson you've learned as a leader that you wish more people talked about openly?
Ask for help. No one person can carry everything alone, and knowing how to show vulnerability is not weakness. It is an expression of humanness. I've seen many leaders perform a version of themselves that has it all figured out, projecting certainty and confidence while privately carrying the same doubts and insecurities the rest of us do. We are all flawed and leadership is a journey where we keep working on ourselves. The leaders I respect most are the ones willing to say they do not have all the answers and mean it.
How do you see civic and business leadership evolving in Denver, and what gives you hope about the future?
The challenges we face here in Denver are not unique to us, and few residents know or care about the boundaries between cities. In my work leading economic development in Lakewood, I have seen firsthand how similar our issues are to what communities across Colorado are navigating. While we certainly have unique communities we are serving, what gives me hope is that we are getting better at acknowledging the common themes and working together across those lines towards something that looks more like genuine collective impact.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Get comfortable with silence. I grew up believing that leadership meant being charismatic, vocal, and gregarious, all the things that frankly did not come naturally to me. As I have gotten older, I have found real strength in stillness and owning my unique perspectives. There are plenty of people who want to be the loudest voice in the room and more power to those individuals. That does not have to be you. In a world full of competing voices all eager to show how much they contribute, the person who genuinely listens, observes, and reflects can often be the one worth hearing when they do speak.
