Triathlon

When I was 13 the idea came to me that I wanted to try something new. Little did I know it would turn into a longterm pursuit to become the best athlete that I could be. Nine years later I have now competed in more than 25 triathlons from local competitions in Minnesota & Florida, as well as some National competitions. In my freshman year at The University of Miami, I joined the club triathlon as an opportunity to meet new people, stay fit, and hopefully find leadership opportunities. I was the vice president my sophomore and junior year, and then became the president for my final year on the team. As a leader on the team my goal was to increase the funding, sponsorships, membership, and member participation. Everything was in motion until the Covid Pandemic began. The goal then shifted to providing my teams athletes with motivation to stay fit and ready for whenever that first race would be out of the pandemic. When that time came, we were all prepared, and it seemed like a great accomplishment. My executive board and I then began to work on future plans where I was able to refocus on my main four goals. Our 2021-2022 season started off on a great foot and we had record numbers of our members competing in all of our local races. As we looked into the new year we began our planning for Collegiate Triathlon Nationals, which this year were taking place at Lake Lanier in Georgia. We began fundraising in order to minimize the cost of attendance for each of our athletes, and in the end the team was able to raise more than $10,000 for this effort. Come April, we boarded our flights with a UM Tri Club record of 17 athletes, an increase of 10 people from our last appearance at nationals in 2019. Along with all the athletes, we were able to bring our coach, and many parents attended as well. Four years of hard work, but I can confidently say that I am leaving this team in a better place than when I first joined and that brings me all the joy in the world. Now, looking ahead to my post graduate days, I become an independent athlete. My first big test will be a Half Ironman which consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. This has been a goal since I first began triathlons back in 2013, and just the start towards my ultimate end goal which is completing a full Ironman.

Photography

My passion for photography kicked off in high school when I got my first camera. I began taking photos for my High School Newspaper, SLP Echo, and I never looked back. By the end of high school I was doing freelance work for a couple of the high school sports teams, and doing photoshoots with my friends on the side. When I arrived at University of Miami, I almost immediately joined our student newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. I began with taking photos of volleyball & soccer, and then got the opportunity to shoot my first UM football game. Shooting football made me realize how much I enjoyed taking photos and cemented my love for Art. I began my minor in Fine Art Photography where I learned techniques from some amazing professors with great insight. I worked tirelessly to create a portfolio for myself so I was able to find other gigs around the community. I worked as a Senior Staff Photographer for TMH until I became Photo Editor my senior year. Throughout all of this time, I was able to meet wonderful people and take photos of stars including Frank Gore, Cocoa Gauff and Pitbull (Just to name a few). Even though my time at UM is coming to a close, photography will always be a passion of mine and I look forward to finding opportunities to grow as I move out to Boston at the end of the summer.

BusinessMan

From a young age, I was interested in learning about business and entrepreneurship. I got my first job when I was 16, almost right after getting my license, as a lifeguard at my local recreation center. I worked as a lifeguard for four seasons, but I also picked up a job at my local bike shop. It was at this bike shop where I learned my love for sales, something that I carry with me today and will be doing once I graduate. I spent a couple of summers working at both the pool and the bike shop trying to get in as many hours as possible. At the same time I was also trying to grow my photography following, and was spending a lot of the money I made on photography gear. Once I was in college I began working internships for my family’s business, a local liquor store chain in Minnesota. My freshman summer I spent time in France working on a Chateau as well as learning how to market and sell wine. My sophomore year I jumped into a entrepreneurial project with some of my piers to create an Accurate Dosing Canabis vape call IKO, for cautious users and people trying to cut down on their usage. Unfortunately this project did not make it past initial prototype fazes due to the Covid Pandemic, but I learned many valuable lessons about entrepreneurship during this time. During the pandemic I went back to the family business and once again worked in an internship role. Following my Junior year I worked in Boston for E&J Gallo’s Sales Leadership development program where I began learning E&J Gallo’s steps to becoming a successful salesperson and businessperson. That brings me to where I am today, as I will begin working for E&J Gallo in August of 2022 where I will continue the SLDP in which I started last summer.