Resilience Isn’t a Trait. It’s a Skill. And Resourcefulness Is How You Build It.

The day I was born, a nurse asked my mother, “Would you like to see your daughter?”
She replied, “No thanks. I have the rest of my life to look at her.”

That’s how my story began: The third of five children to parents who were high school dropouts with arrest records. My “bedroom” in our tiny rowhouse was a mattress in the hallway, which I shared with my sister, who is developmentally-disabled. 

I changed schools six times before dropping out of high school in eleventh grade. At 18, I left home with everything I owned in a trash bag and lived out of my car until I could afford an apartment.

Then, two weeks after moving in, I was raped at gunpoint in my own bed.

No one believed me. Not the police. Not even my own mother.

That could’ve defined me.
Instead, I realized that I was the person who would have to believe in me.

Resourcefulness: The Skill That Changed Everything

Over the next 12 years, I lived in 19 different places and worked 11 different jobs. I wanted a career in business, but every major company turned me down—I didn’t have a college degree.

Then, I earned an MBA – without finishing high school or college – from Loyola University in Maryland. Followed by the Executive Program at Stanford Business School.

When the companies I wanted to work for wouldn’t hire me, I became an entrepreneur. Where opportunity didn’t exist, I created it.

I cashed in my savings, took equity instead of a salary, and turned around an insolvent startup that later sold for $230 million. Matrics was named Venture Deal of the Year and featured as a Princeton University case study in entrepreneurship.

Turning Vision into Impact

I’ve built and scaled technology companies, led complex turnarounds, and managed a billion-dollar government budget. My career has one throughline: solving hard problems with smart strategy—and delivering results that last.

🔹 Public Sector Leadership

As CEO of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, I launched the Maryland Innovation Center (formerly Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship), helped retain and attract high-growth businesses, and supported the launch of Startup Maryland.

I was sworn in as the 8th County Executive of Anne Arundel County, managing a $1.3B budget. I entered with no political backers—just a mandate for change in the aftermath of a scandal. Results included replenishing the Rainy Day Fund, improving the County’s bond rating, saving taxpayers $10 million in borrowing costs on bond interest, addressing a $1B+ unfunded retiree healthcare liability, and cutting paramedic response time by 27%.

Justice—19 Years Later

For nearly two decades, no one listened. Then, I found a detective who did.

Three days later, he solved the case.

My fight for justice ignited a new mission: to transform the systems that failed me and to advocate for others who are still being silenced. That’s when my mission expanded: Change the systems. Give voice to the voiceless. Be the leader I once needed.

My advocacy led to connecting the perpetrator, while he was up for parole, to six more cases. The man who attacked me turned out to be the worst serial rapist in Maryland history—confessing to 25 cases, including a murder.

Why I Speak, Write, and Lead Today

Because resilience is earned, not inherited.