In the months leading up to the 2008 election, I was part of a weekly dinner group that met at the same house. It was an eclectic group of people with vastly different socioeconomic statuses, varying widely in age, divided on the presidential candidate, distanced at times by language barriers, and yet, every week we came together to eat the same meal, each person bringing one item to make the meal complete. Somehow we survived the election, but not all of us survived the year. One of our friends was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and our focus turned to rides to the hospital, meal delivery, medication pick up, and eventually funeral planning. At the same time, a single mom in the group also needed similar support for a very different reason, and so, in the spring of 2009, in life and death, we gathered, one meal at a time, learning to care about something much bigger than our vast differences.

I gave my first speech in 2nd grade at a contest and never looked back. Next, I moved into speech and debate, and later into coaching the same events as a college student. After undergrad, I went to seminary and fell in love with preaching. I continued to work with high school speakers, but also began speaking and training in DEI-related topics. Most recently, I spent eight years in higher education in a diversity office teaching courses, developing and delivering training, and continuing to speak and facilitate dialogue across differences The experience I gained from training helped me develop a framework for not only DEI work but organization development and relational wholeness., and thus I co-founded Kardia House Consulting, LLC which focuses on the mindful reframing of conversation away from divisiveness and polarization and toward a framework of generous communication.

I gave my first TEDx Talk in the summer of 2022, and have begun coaching speakers.