It all started in 2003. As a student of psychology at Albion college, I was buying items on eBay with student loan debt and feeling depressed when checking my ex-girlfriends Myspace page. I quickly realized that my online habits had a major impact on my mental and emotional health. Thus began my journey into advocating for digital wellness.
In 2010, I created a pluggin for the web that would help you manage your time and mood online.
In 2011, I began conversations with Dr. Larry Rosen on how the Internet impacts our emotion and mood.
In 2012, I conducted a 300 person market research study on time management skills of students who were using the software I created to manage their time and mood online.
In 2013, I co-presented with a researcher from the University Michigan on Facebook’s impact on loneliness and envy.
In 2014, I was a finalist with Covenant Eyes for a campaign that focused on pornography’s impact on our health and relationships.
In 2015, I presented at TEDx on how our phone is changing our biochemistry in a message titled, “Are you and i-Drenaline Junkie?”
In 2016, I spoke via podcast to the Digital Citizenship Summit at Twitter’s Headquarters.
In 2017, the rise of digital wellness resulted in a host of organizations hiring me to educate their teams on ways to create boundaries with their digital devices to help reduce stress & burnout.
In 2019, I continue to speak around the country encouraging people to embrace a culture of digital wellbeing!
In 2020, virtual events have allowed me to connect to organizations all over the world! I’ve had the chance to teach people ways to connect with courage online while building their virtual confidence muscle.
In 2021, I continue to focus on virtual events and have been featured in various media outlets. A recent radio interview with WJR 760 AM focused on ways to improve digital wellness while taking a break from political & pandemic news.
In 2022, the Courage to Connect podcast has launched and my new book, If You Really Knew Me…is set to release in the summer of 2022!
