When I pop open the frunk of my Mustang Mach-E, you’ll always find the same three things: SPF 50, a hard hat, and my longboarding shoes. It might seem like a random mix, but those items represent the journey I’ve been on. One that started with a cancer diagnosis and led me to build a purpose-driven business that’s become bigger than I ever imagined.

In 2022, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma. 

I still remember the moment I got the call, it came during a work conference call. I hit “mute” on the conference call to answer an incoming call. My doctor’s words stopped me cold. Everything went quiet. It was the first time I truly stared down my own mortality, and it shook me to the core.

I underwent surgery to remove a significant patch of skin from my shoulder, followed by rounds of immunotherapy. But it wasn’t just my body that needed healing, my spirit was searching for something deeper. I found myself asking questions I had never really asked before: What does it mean to really live? What matters most?

Those questions led me to Nepal.

I took a 30-day solo trip, riding a motorcycle through the Himalayas, visiting remote villages, and sitting with thoughts I’d never had space to process before. I saw incredible things, people offering kindness without motive, living in harmony with each other and the natural world. That experience cracked something open in me. I came home with a renewed sense of purpose, a deeper connection to humanity, and a commitment to care for the planet we all share.

That journey became the foundation of my company, Everest Fire Protection. I didn’t want to just start another business. I wanted to build something rooted in integrity, sustainability, and compassion. Our work is fire protection, but at its core, it’s about serving people and protecting what matters.

That vision led us to secure jobs at Ford’s Blue Oval battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee. It’s not lost on me how full-circle that feels. I went to Nepal searching for purpose, and now we’re protecting the infrastructure that powers a more sustainable future. It’s the kind of work that aligns with everything I believe in: environmental care, human connection, and excellence in craftsmanship.

My Mach-E is part of that story too.

I’ve driven it over 50,000 miles across the country, and it’s become more than a vehicle, it’s a mobile office, a travel companion, and a symbol of the future we’re helping to build. I’ll plug in at a charging station, answer a few emails, and then hop on my longboard to explore wherever I’ve landed. There’s freedom in that. The same kind I felt riding through the mountains of Nepal.

I keep that longboard in the back, along with the hard hat and sunscreen. They’re reminders of where I’ve been and where I’m going.

These days, when I show up to a job site, there’s something different about the way we do things. At Everest, we don’t just show up to finish a contract. We show up to connect, to serve, and to leave things better than we found them, whether that’s a building, a community, or a team member’s life.

There’s even a global side to our story. That time in Nepal taught me how to work across cultures and see the value in perspectives different from my own. Now, many of our projects involve international teams, and I’ve found those same values: respect, humility, collaboration, carry over.

This journey began with a diagnosis I never wanted. But what’s grown out of it is something I never could’ve planned: a business with soul, a mission with momentum, and a personal story that’s still unfolding.

And it all rides with me, every time I get behind the wheel.