I grew up as an Army brat, went through Army ROTC in college, commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer, and now I support the defense ecosystem. My entire life and professional career have involved the DoD and security in some form or fashion. I love serving as the Vice President, Security & Research at Accel Innovation Corporation and operating my own Industrial Security consulting firm for the same reason I loved Active-Duty service: defense is a dynamic, innovative, and exciting space. With extensive leadership experience in facility and field operations, training, and program development, my time working with a small start-up has provided plenty of well-rounded experience. From spearheading company marketing operations, leading talent acquisition, developing internship training programs, wearing the hat of event coordinator, Human Resources Specialist, cybersecurity office, IT guru, and plenty more, the start-up world opened my horizons and diversified my skillsets. As a self-starter and independent learner, I excel under the pressure of a new challenge and constantly seek to fill company and market gaps. The inception of my industrial security company, First Security Solutions (FSS), stemmed from a capability gap while serving at AIC. We needed a Facility Security Officer (FSO), and soon our clients were looking for the same support. FSS grew out of a need and continues to grow, fueled by my passion for intelligence and security.As an experienced all-source intelligence and homeland security professional with a background in civilian and military settings, my journey has been marked by a relentless pursuit of knowledge. I want to know more, do more, and spark innovation. This commitment led me to pursue a dual masters in Emergency Management and Homeland Security in 2019. Although there were days I had second thoughts about committing myself to a dual program (especially when my laptop crashed while writing papers from a sandy tent in Afghanistan), I have always been in the pursuit of knowledge and finding where I can contribute to greater National Security issues.