Turning Setbacks Into Strategy
From Crisis Counselor to Tech Leader: How an Accident Revealed My True Path
Some turning points arrive quietly.
Mine came with the sound of metal, glass, and a sudden stop.
A Mission-Driven Early Career
I built my early career around psychology, advocacy, and crisis support, working with homeless veterans at the Lyons VA and Community Hope, counseling students at Montclair State University's Women's Center, conducting developmental research, and co-leading CCAT, a campus nonprofit dedicated to fighting human trafficking. My work was meaningful, human-centered, and mission-driven. But it was also emotionally heavy, and I had not yet envisioned a different future for myself.
Then the accident happened.
The Stillness That Changed Everything
It forced a pause I never would have taken on my own. For the first time, I had to sit still, and in that stillness, I had to ask myself whether the path I was on was the one I truly wanted to continue.
I realized something surprising: the moments that energized me most were not just the counseling or crisis work. They were the moments when I quietly modernized systems, digitized processes, organized chaos, and created structure where none existed.
I had always loved technology. I just never believed a STEM career was meant for me, especially as a woman who had often been "the gal Friday" at every job—the person who made things run smoothly behind the scenes but never saw herself as the architect of the systems themselves. The accident made me question that belief.
Rewriting the Résumé, Reframing the Story
So I did something bold: I rewrote my résumé to highlight the technology work I had been doing all along. I reframed my experience—not as administrative support, but as early systems thinking, process design, and digital transformation.
And someone saw it. Someone took a chance on me.
I became a sole IT administrator: terrified, excited, and determined. I learned quickly. I grew even faster. Eventually, I became an IT director, leading an entire department.
It was in that role that I discovered Microsoft Dynamics, and everything clicked. Technology was not just a job; it was a language I had been speaking my entire life without realizing it.
From there, I moved into consulting, helping organizations transform the way they work. Then, in a full-circle moment, I joined Microsoft Federal, where my very first client was the VA—the same community I had served years earlier as a case manager.
Two completely different chapters of my life collided in the most meaningful way.
My Crystal Milestone
Today, I am approaching my five-year anniversary at Microsoft—my crystal milestone—and I carry every part of my journey with me: the psychology, the advocacy, the accident, the reinvention, the IT leadership, the consulting, and the federal mission.
What I Learned
When things fell apart, I learned that setbacks are not endings; they are invitations. The accident did not derail my life—it revealed a different version of it.
I learned that the skills we dismiss as "just helping," "just organizing," or "just supporting" are often the early signs of our future leadership. I learned that women do not need permission to enter STEM; we need recognition of the brilliance we have already been demonstrating quietly.
And I learned that reinvention is not a failure—it is a strategy.
My story is not about a plan that worked. It is about a plan that did not, and the better one that emerged because of it.
