Before building my mediation practice, I spent more than 20 years in advertising technology and media sales. I regularly dealt with complex business relationships, multi-step negotiations, often involving competing priorities and a goal of maintaining a long term partnership.

In that work, I was involved in negotiating and supporting media deals around publisher API feeds and partnership agreements, where business objectives, data use, and licensing terms all had to align. I saw firsthand how misunderstandings over rights, responsibilities, and expectations could quickly escalate—and how unresolved conflict could unnecessarily damage strong business relationships.

That experience shaped how I approach conflict resolution. I found myself drawn to the work that required careful listening, steady communication, and helping people move through tension toward a workable path. Over time, that led me to make a deliberate mid-career transition into mediation and earn my M.S. in Conflict Management.