12/06/2025
When I was in 7th grade at a Catholic school in Pittsburgh, a teacher once lined up a few of us and said we would never amount to much. It hurt, and it stayed with me. That same year, we spent a whole year in after-school detention. We sat in the library each day, picked a book, and wrote a report. I stuck to sports books, and one day, I grabbed the Gale Sayers' autobiography, I Am Third. I already loved the 1971 movie Brian’s Song, which was based on a chapter in his book, but I had no idea the deeper message behind his life.
Sayers followed a simple credo:
• God is first.
• Others are second.
• I am third.
Those words hit me at the exact time I needed direction. They became my guide as I grew up, built a career, married, and spent decades helping brands and people tell their stories. I carried that motto through years in the corporate world, working for Fortune 50 brands and then building my award-winning marketing agency, through fast and full seasons of life.
Then, in 2022, a routine surgery went wrong and partially paralyzed my esophagus and I’ve been battling chronic nausea and vomiting ever since. I have had every test and treatment. Nothing has helped. I fight a daily battle that has changed my work, my health, and my life.
Yet the hardship made the I Am Third message stronger. Pain strips life down to what matters. Faith. Family. Friends. Purpose. Serving others. Redemptive suffering has become a teacher, reminding me that pain offered to God and others can shape a deeper love and have meaning.
In the middle of all of this, I felt called to use the energy I still have to help others live with more heart and more faith. That is why I created . This page is not about perfection. It is about gratitude, resilience, perspective, and choosing to live with intention even when life hurts.
Imagine all people living the words of Jesus: love God fully first and love your neighbor as yourself. Imagine a world where we put God first, others second, and ourselves third. There would be far less homelessness, hunger, poverty, unhappiness, war, and more!
God first.
Others second.
I am third.
If my story speaks to you, I am grateful you are here.
