I grew up with my mom, dad and three younger brothers on the South Shore of Massachusetts.

As a shy, dreamy kid who didn't want to stand out, I still managed to enter talent shows, art shows, and open mics, because my drive to perform and make art won out over my urge to blend in.

When I graduated from high school, I had no idea what I wanted. At my family's (well-intentioned) urging, I attended community college on Cape Cod for a semester before dropping out due to lack of focus.

I then worked in retail and learned what I truly, absolutely didn't want. I'd always wondered what it would be like to work as a flight attendant. When I found and answered an ad in the newspaper(!) I got the chance. I left my retail gig and proceeded to train in Minnesota as well as travel the world as much as one could in 9 months' time.

The high-flying lifestyle was too intense for me. Handling life-or-death emergencies gave me nightmares. Not to mention, I was in my 20s, so imagine: every time I made plans, I was called to work, leaving for several days at a time.

My airline purchased another, and my level of seniority plummeted as longer-tenured flight attendants were shuffled into the roster. Seniority is a whole thing. Since lower seniority meant my selection of trips became less desirable, I planned my exit.

I put roots down in Massachusetts, getting a job as a "game master" at a video game company. This involved moderating a massively multiplayer online game associated with a major franchise. It was a cool job, but when a recession hit, my job was eliminated.

I took a few administrative jobs to keep my head above water, eventually making my way to my first start-up job as a technical support rep.

This was hard work I kept gravitating toward for years on end. I didn't know myself well enough to know what else to do, and I was good enough to keep at it, for better or worse. Some of us just aren't meant for that kind of work. I could fake it through, but my mental and emotional health suffered.

A former coworker and I chatted online about his career as a QA engineer. After we said goodbye, I was so inspired I copied the chat and pasted it into a text document I kept on my drive for over a decade.

Eventually I made the leap to Quality Assurance via a few conversations and a promotion at a company I stayed at for seven years.

After (sigh) another layoff, I realized I needed to upskill and noticed a pattern: everyone wanted QAs to know automation. So, I worked between January and July 2025 to earn a certificate in quality assurance engineering.

That's my story so far.