About
I learned early to pay attention, be useful, and leave things better than I found them.
That started with my dad, around the house and in the woods. The work changes shape, but the standard stays the same: care for what I hand other people, and care for how I leave things.
Where it started
The work started before I knew it was work.
I grew up in Florida, the youngest of three, with a dad who spent weekends rewiring, rebuilding, and fixing whatever the house needed. I learned systems thinking there, not from a textbook, but from watching someone understand a problem and then do the work.
Much of my childhood was also spent in Boy Scouts with him, camping, learning outdoor skills, and figuring out how to be useful. I made it to Life Scout and about halfway to Eagle before wandering off at sixteen to be sixteen. The rank matters less to me now than what stayed: stewardship, service, anticipating what people will need, comfort with hard work, and the confidence to figure things out without waiting for someone else.
The operator
Clear thinking, clear communication. That is most of the job.
I studied English and creative writing at Florida State, then spent more than twenty years working through every level of food-service operations, from catering manager to general manager of a seven-figure corporate dining account.
Operations taught me that a system only counts when it survives real people, limited time, missing information, and the occasional spectacular failure of something that worked yesterday. The writing degree turned out to be more useful than most people expect. It taught me to make sense of complexity and explain what needs to happen next.
What followed
Ownership made the work personal.
A trip to Ecuador in 2019 turned curiosity about aroids into Fuzzy Petioles, a six-figure direct-to-consumer plant business run from a converted carport greenhouse in Columbus. The same instinct later led me to build AfterShow and to take on nonprofit governance and event leadership with the International Aroid Society.
I live in Columbus with my wife Sam, our dogs Window and Lolly, and a few thousand plants. I photograph plants and landscapes, follow Florida State football and the Tampa Bay Rays, enjoy driving more than is probably necessary, and have been quietly sober since December 2021. It has made everything else work better.