I’ve always been drawn to unknown things. Growing up in the suburbs of Seattle, I always imagined moving away to live some movie-set city life on the East Coast. I took that leap in college, jetting off to the heart of New York City - a place where I knew no one and had to learn from the ground up how to survive (and hopefully thrive), in the gauntlet of America’s epicenter.
I panicked, I stumbled and questioned my decision and at times even considered jumping ship and going back to a more familiar West Coast life. But within 6 months I had mastered the basics and settled in for the next decade of fast, urban life in NYC.
The second big leap
My transition into the tech world felt similarly daunting. Having worked in the non-profit space, I struggled to reconcile my desire to be part of a mission-driven organization with the lack of upward mobility, career growth, and coaching often found in that sector. One of my mentors advised that even if my long-term goal was to return to non-profit work, it would be beneficial to transition to the private sector, where more career progression opportunities existed. I didn’t know where to start—my focus on non-profit had left me unaware of other careers, especially in tech. So, I threw my profile up on AngelList, and one of the companies that reached out to me was Abacus, now Emburse. I’ve been with the company for eight years, growing from an 18-person startup in Chelsea to an 800-employee global business. Throughout Emburse’s rapid growth, I’ve had numerous opportunities to learn, grow, and lead innovations for what’s next. I currently serve as the Vice President of Product Management for our SMB and Card solutions, helping define Emburse not only as a software innovator but also as a leader in FinTech.
Diving into the (complex) world of payments
In 2019, I moved back to the West Coast (shout out to PDX) and am comfortably settled with my own family, revelling in having real space after 10 years of cramped NYC living. However, at work, I’m just getting started with testing the boundaries of discomfort, learning, and transformation. Since catapulting into FinTech with Emburse Cards in 2019, we’ve carved a path of innovation—integrating with leading payments players worldwide and offering embedded virtual card and payment solutions, both with our cards and in partnership with trusted banks and card programs, all within our world class Expense solutions. We’ve launched deeply integrated white label partnerships with industry leading banks, brought embedded virtual card solutions to customers of the world’s leading corporate card, and innovated end-to-end solutions with the leading card network for global reach – with much more to come in 2025 and beyond. Our Banking as a Service (BaaS) strategy uniquely positions us to serve not only SMBs but also the largest enterprises, providing a fresh perspective on payments innovation. I’ve been proud and inspired to be so deeply involved in the Emburse BaaS strategy since its inception, working hand in hand with our partners, development and go-to-market teams to bring these industry defining solutions to life.
Leaning into my career
I’ll be honest – the imposter syndrome has been loud throughout my entire tech journey (and life, perhaps) – and loudest when in the payments space. On its surface, payments can seem almost pedantically simple –what can be so hard about moving money around? The reality is a deeply complex and often antiquated set of systems that make what should be simple, very difficult – and leaving zero margin for error. Coupled with a very tight circle of payments insiders holding the keys, breaking into the space can be very challenging. I’ve embraced that discomfort over the years, using it as motivation to gain hard-earned entry into the payments circle and leveraging my unique background to reshape the dialogue on joining industry-leading payments with best-in-class software that truly changes the game for customers.