My first business failed. I was nearly suspended from 2nd Grade for operating a business on school property. While my Dad stepped in to avert the suspension, I had to shut it down. I lost my entire investment. While ten dollars may not sound like a lot of money, it is to an 8-year old! I took a graphic design and web development class in High School. I launched my first website for a paying client as a sophomore. Somehow I didn’t realize I could actually build websites as a job, so I got a B.S. in Psychology from Colorado State University. Along the way, I’ve worked as a Mobile DJ, Hot Dog Man, Radio Personality, SWAT Trainer, and Restaurant Manager.

I quit my job as a car salesman after a week because I wanted to be able to sleep at night and keep my soul. And that’s exactly what I told the Sales Manager when I turned in my keys. In 2007 I struck out on my own selling websites. That venture failed too; but my demo sites got me a job at a local web shop. It was there I built my first website on WordPress (v2.3.1) in 2008.

I founded Copper Leaf Creative in 2011 with the vision to create a small, elite, agile-minded team that builds websites that make profound impacts on our clients’ businesses. Ten years and nearly two million dollars later, so far so good!

When I’m not working, I’m cooking, catching concerts, reading, mountain biking, racing sailboats, backpacking, day-hiking, swimming, running (ugh), Jeeping, and slow-smoking ribs. I’m also an aspiring comedian. No joke.

I love things most people hate – checklists, details, organizing, even reconciling accounts. What can I say? I have a wicked OCD streak.

Prior to joining Copper Leaf I was an assistant to a real estate agent. In just two years, I helped her triple her annual commissions to over a half-million dollars.

At our annual Friendsgiving Feast Gordon and I got to chatting about work. I was frustrated with my real estate job. Copper Leaf was afloat but struggling to be profitable. Gordon and I put two and two together. Copper Leaf needed my help.

I joined the team in January 2015. By April we shattered the monthly revenue record. Since then, I’ve been wrangling Gordon’s passion project into a reliable, predictable, profitable business. While that will no-doubt be a perpetual effort, we’ve achieved a balance of creativity & systemization, excitement & accountability, vision & execution.

I also have a B.S. in Psychology from Colorado State University. Pet sitting put me through college. Along the way, I also managed an IT company, worked at a comic book & game store, taught cows to eat weeds, managed a team of commercial maintenance contractors, and worked in elementary education with kids with autism.

When I’m not working, I’m reading, hiking, playing board games, running, road-tripping to National Parks in my Wrangler with the top down, knitting, doing Zumba, and hanging out with my two cats.