I graduated during the last recession wanting to be a structural engineer, but when skyscrapers stopped rising, I pivoted to site development and stormwater design. After moving to Miami and experiencing sunny day flooding, king tides, and hurricanes firsthand, I discovered my passion for flood resilience and helping communities adapt to a changing climate. Realizing that many of the world's great cities share Miami's challenges, I found my purpose in protecting the places people call home.

The hardest part of flood resilience is not the design, it's finding a way to pay for it. The communities most vulnerable to floods often have the fewest resources, while cities have limited budgets with competing priorities, and developers struggle to invest in threats that are uncertain in timing but inevitable in consequence. My work lives at that intersection, finding ways to turn resilience from an aspiration into an investment that safeguards communities for generations.

What excites me most about flood resilience is that we're not just solving a technical problem, we're shaping the future of our cities. We get to reimagine our relationship with water. Every dollar invested in flood resilience can deliver many co-benefits. The same projects that protect from flooding can create housing, parks, ecological habitat, economic growth, and a higher quality of life. And if we get it right, resilience becomes a catalyst for building stronger, more equitable communities.

Floods do not inherently discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, but the recovery process often does. Queer communities can face disproportionate challenges during and after disasters because existing inequities are often amplified by extreme events. LGBTQ+ youth experience significantly higher rates of homelessness, making evacuation and recovery more difficult, while flooding can disrupt access to essential healthcare, including HIV treatment and gender affirming care. These challenges are compounded by the historic underrepresentation of LGBTQ+ communities in emergency planning and recovery efforts, leaving critical needs overlooked where they matter most.