Growing up, I was told that I had to choose one career path that would be my destiny. But the day I graduated from the University of Florida, I realized my dreams were too wild to tame with just one solitary job title.

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So here’s the rundown:

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I was a high school teacher for six years, eventually working my way up to the academic department chair in one of the largest counties in the United States.  During the school day, the young ladies in my class would come to me with their most pressing friendship issues, and my classroom became my unofficial sociology lab. I had a front-row view to the ways that issues of connection and belonging impacted everything else -- their mood, confidence, attendance, and wellbeing. 

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During department meetings, members of the faculty would tell me how difficult it was for them to give quality instruction because there were so many interpersonal conflicts, and the young adults in our classrooms weren't equipped to manage it. We began to design our instruction with this in mind.

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Then I left the classroom to become a publicist, and soon I was working with diverse groups of high-achieving women to help them get more attention for their brands. But it wasn't long before they, too, began secretly confiding in me about their personal friendship challenges.

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That's when I realized that at every stage of womanhood, we're trying to navigate our platonic relationships with other women.

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So, for the past seven years, I've been leveraging my education background and my experience with the American Sociological Association to study what the research has to say about women’s cooperation, communication, and conflict.

 

I wrote the book Fighting for our Friendships: The Science and Art of Conflict and Connection in Women's Relationships, served as the former spokesperson and research consultant for the global app Bumble, and I've become a recurring guest expert for Tamron Hall Show, NBC News, The Skimm, and New York Times. 

 

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I've also written for:

• Insider

• Harvard Business Review

• CNBC

 

Currently, I'm serving as the Director of the Women's Relational Health Institute where we train women in leadership to create stronger bonds among their female-dominant teams, we and certify therapists and teachers who want to also be equipped as relational health coaches.
 

When I’m not speaking on women’s friendships, I’m running TELL Public Relations, a consulting agency helping women-led brands get more visibility for their businesses. The work I'm doing in women's relational health has captured a lot of attention, but I know I'm not the only woman with an important message to share. So when I'm not studying the latest research or designing relational health curriculum, I’m committed to helping other women of color achieve the same brand visibility that I’ve been blessed to experience.

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As you can see, I believe in being a woman who does "all the things".

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​Because when a woman has work to do, she doesn’t limit herself.