Milestones

My road in life has taken me all over.
Left high school wanting to work in TV, did not like the college communications courses.
EMS and fire-fighting. I learned that I love serving people and working for local government.
I chose to volunteer to be a fire-fighter in Iraq during the war. 2004-2005
I wound up managing restaurants. I started at a tiny bar & grill and worked up to large fine dining.
While returning to school, I managed one of the largest restaurants in New Orleans.
After I moved to DC area, I found work in election administration where I focused on technology.
I was asked to join the State Board of Elections' technical advisory team in Richmond.
I was selected as the Dir. of Elections for Fairfax County.
Keep following my journey

Career

Director of Elections

I oversee the operations of registration, election management, and technology to conduct elections.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Government
Politics
Problem Solving

Day to Day

A great day in my office includes an election day that is sufficiently busy with phone calls and emails from voters and precinct officers to solve issues of voter registration status and precinct operation challenges. Reports from precincts would indicate that the appropriate number of resources had been deployed to each polling place and that voters waiting in line are either non-existent or minimal. Finally, the election would be complete in a timely manner and accurate results returned.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for high school students

Pay attention in your government classes! The minor details of how the various branches of government work is incredibly important to know. Ask questions about local government. Ask questions about how the government counts votes.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Peers:

"You're too young, you don't have any business running a large election administration office."

Challenges I Overcame

LGBT