my journey to mindful LEADERSHIP

Mindfulness begins with paying attention — to this moment, to what’s actually happening inside and around us. It’s how we notice our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors so we can choose actions that serve us, rather than reacting from habit or fear.

It was winter 2015…

It was the winter of 2015.
I was sitting at a desk in the back of my 1,400-square-foot retail store, surrounded by $50,000 worth of inventory, when an email from my landlord appeared:

“We received a Letter of Intent from another potential tenant. You can stay if you agree to match the rent.”

It was double what I was paying.

Behind the panic, there was a whisper: This is your way out.
Still, I spent most of my beach vacation running financial models and trying to make the math work.

For years, I had felt trapped. My e-commerce and brick-and-mortar lifestyle brand was my second child. I had built it from nothing — crossing half a million in annual sales, gaining international recognition for its quirky, joyful aesthetic. Yet somewhere along the way, my own joy had disappeared.

Maybe it was buried under job descriptions, tax forms, and a few mouse droppings.

My body was in pain, my patience thin, my relationships strained. I was constantly analyzing, rationalizing, and making fear-based decisions. I looked successful but felt small and exhausted.

Eventually, I sold the e-commerce portion of the business and closed the store.

What Changed

Fast-forward to 2018 — I was happier than I had ever been.
During that in-between time, I began to practice mindfulness seriously, not as an idea but as a discipline. What I discovered astonished me: I could let go of chronic worry, loosen self-limiting beliefs, and experience more joy with far less fear.

Joy became fuel — not a reward for achievement but the source of sustainable motivation. I no longer had to push through life with willpower alone.

As a psychologist, I had studied human behavior for years. But this was lived knowledge — the direct experience that humans can retrain their minds and bodies to live with more presence, less fear, and genuine happiness.

Why I Teach This Now

Today, my work blends positive psychology, mindfulness, and industrial-organizational science into a practical approach to leadership and life. It helps people — and the teams they lead — become more engaged, creative, and resilient.

Human beings can learn to live with more joy and less fear. We can choose which thoughts to hold and which to release. Simple, not easy — but available to all of us. And the rewards are profound.