I was a teacher, then worked in wealth management. Both made me better at this.

I started in a third grade classroom in Washington, DC.

I went to the Catholic University of America, also in Washington. Teaching taught me to notice when someone stops following an explanation and find a different way to explain it, without making them feel like they should already know.

That is most of what I do now. People come to me a little embarrassed that they do not understand escrow, or amortization, or why their tax bill is about to change. Nobody teaches you any of this, and then one day it is the largest financial decision of your life.

Then I spent years in wealth management.

That work taught me to look past the monthly payment to the whole financial picture, and to say so plainly when something does not make sense.

Eventually, I wanted to move into another part of finance where I could still work directly with people, and that led me to mortgages.