I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1987 with a B.S. in Computer Science. I was employed in the software industry for 13 years as a software engineer, working in a range of areas including developmental tools, database and memory management, Newton connectivity and personal finance software. I advanced to the lead position of Engineering Manager for the Quicken for Macintosh team at Intuit. My team delivered shelf-ready versions of Quicken for Macintosh, on time, for two years. I left this position to care for my newborn twins and my elderly grandmother. My husband and I adopted our third child from Russia in 2008. She had many neurological and behavioral challenges, which we learned in 2020 were attributed to a variant in her SLC6A1 gene. I joined the parent advocacy group, SLC6A1 Connect, to learn more about their efforts to treat and cure SLC6A1-related disorders and began volunteering for the organization in 2022 as a parent advocate. I represent the organization for COMBINEDBrain, Ciitizen/Invitae, the Neurogenetic Clinic at Colorado Children's Hospital, the Rare Epilepsy Network and the American Epilepsy Society. In addition to recruiting families and patients for natural history studies and patient registries to advance clinical trials, I manage new membership, collaborate with SLC6A1 international organizations and assist with maintaining the website. I was nominated for the Global Genes 2023 Rare Champion of Hope advocacy award.