In 2005, I was thrust into the world of congenital heart disease (CHD) with the birth of my youngest son. At the time, I had a fulfilling career as a clinical speech pathologist specializing in voice therapy, brain injury and swallowing. Now, my goal is to empower others to be the resounding voice for congenital heart defects; to improve the lives of those living with congenital heart defects; and to ensure that my son will live a long, healthy life.Most recently I co-founded the Pediatric Congenital Heart Association, now Conquering CHD. Our Why is simple, we exist to conquer the most common birth defect. The days following Nicholas' birth were traumatic - we shuffled between three hospitals, Nicholas experienced his helicopter and I handed my son to a heart surgeon - all before he was a full three days old. While Nicholas did remarkably well, I was devastated watching the suffering of other families as they endured months in the hospital, or even the worst nightmare - losing their baby. Yet I had known nothing about CHD before Nicholas was born - nothing about the most common birth defect. I sought out to change that - channeling all of my traumatic energy to ensure that other parents didn't have to endure what we did. Even though 1 out of 100 children born will have a CHD, there is not an equitable level of advocacy, education and research. This is why we exist.In May of 2022 my oldest experienced a traumatic brain injury. I resigned my role at Conquering CHD, transitioning to the Board so I could focus my attention advocating for my son. I returned to my role as Executive Director in February 2023 after his miraculous recovery.In fall of 2023 I closed the loop of my career moving from patient advocacy to eliminating barriers of social determinants of health.