If you’ve ever wondered how someone ends up designing immersive, AI-powered learning experiences for everyone from ski bums to future sailing captains, you’re in the right place. My journey in training and development started on the snowy slopes of Crested Butte Mountain Resort back in 2000, where I was teaching skiing while working my way through Western State College in Gunnison, CO. Blending theater skills honed onstage and the entrepreneurial drive I inherited from my family, my career quickly snowballed—pun intended.
From Property Management to World-Class Sailing
Marriage brought new horizons (and a lot less powder skiing), leading me into the world of property management and, soon after, sales and sales management. In each new role, I gravitated toward training—coaching sales teams in three different industries before life blew me to the banks of the Columbia River. Here, I’ve found my groove at a world-class sailing school, where I get to combine my passion for helping people with my love of the outdoors.
At Island Sailing, my job is to help members transform from curious beginners to confident charter boat skippers, just like I did. I also train the owner and staff on sales and business development—supporting the school as it evolves from a 5-year-old startup with a 40-year legacy into a franchise-worthy powerhouse.
The Future: AI, Immersive Training, and Human Performance Technology
What’s next? As I complete my Master’s in Learning Design and Technology, I’m driven by a mission: empowering businesses and individuals to future-proof their processes through advanced, immersive training experiences. I see huge potential in harnessing AI chatbots with retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and designing 360-degree learning environments.
Every organization has a “black box”—especially those whose HR departments are still stuck in the Stone Age when it comes to tech and training. I want to crack that box open and show teams what’s possible when you combine performance-driven incentives with cutting-edge learning design.
Why Human Performance Technology Matters
Coming from sales, I see every business challenge as—at its core—a question of motivation and incentives. Let’s be honest: work is trading time for money, and most problems (engagement, conversion, retention) are rooted there. For example, when our sailing club wanted to boost member engagement and upsell lower-tier members to more advanced classes, my first solution was simple: monetary incentives. Give your sales staff a bonus for every upgrade and suddenly those classes fill themselves!
But Human Performance Technology (HPT) is more than just gut feeling. It’s a science—a structured process to identify barriers, align teams, and allocate resources where they’ll actually move the needle. That’s the secret sauce I’m mastering now. Once you layer HPT into your workflow, you’re not just guessing—you’re diagnosing, operating, and innovating like a creative problem-solving wizard.
Practicum in Action: Child Advocacy, Curriculum, and Scale
Right now, my practicum is all about revamping the curriculum for Clark County Child Advocates. I’m working to equip and support Guardian ad Litem volunteers—building training that’s not just effective, but future-ready and replicable. My goal? To design a solution that other nonprofits, nationwide and worldwide, can adopt and adapt to empower their own teams.
Looking Ahead
2026 is just around the corner, and I’m more excited than ever to bring these skills—blending theater, sales, outdoor adventure, and tech-savvy design—to businesses and organizations that want to break out of old habits and unlock new potential.
If you’re ready to future-proof your training, reimagine your team’s capabilities, or just want to chat about the magic of learning and design, let’s connect. The next wave of learning is here, and I’m sailing full speed ahead.
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