"I am you — or I have been. Probably more than once."
I used to believe careers followed a straight line.
Mine didn't.
The career I imagined wasn't the one that shaped me.
The opportunities I almost didn't take changed everything.
Looking back, every unexpected turn had something to teach me.
They were the path.
If your career doesn't look the way you imagined, you're probably not doing it wrong.
You're probably just living it.
That's why workstuff exists.
MY PLAN
I was going to be a police officer. While I waited for that to come through I took a temp job in IT — just to fill the time. It didn't quite work out that way.
THE ACCIDENTAL YES
An HR temp role came up at the same company. I applied on a whim. Got it. Never looked back. That one yes changed the entire direction of my life — and I didn't even see it coming.
THE ADVENTURE
I relocated to Alberta for my HR role during the oil boom. It was exciting and terrifying in equal measure — and I was desperately homesick. Came back to Ontario in 2009 and started building something that felt more like home.
THE FULL LIFE
Started a family in 2011. Kept climbing. Then in 2016 — burnout. It arrived loudly and forced questions I'd been avoiding for years.
THE BREAK AND THE BUILD
I took a leap and built tHRive Collective — an HR services company with a coaching offering. Great work, great clients. But the piece that lit me up most was the real conversations. The relationships. The impact you can actually feel. That mattered most.
THE RETURN
I went back into HR as a practitioner because that work matters too. And I kept this space open. Because the important discussions don't stop just because the day job is busy.
THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
End of 2020. An accident. Near-fatal complications. The kind of clarity you can't manufacture. I knew exactly what I was here to do.
I'm not here to get you the yes. I'm here to get you the information you need to make your own decision.
Most of the time we already know what we want. We just haven't said it out loud yet. We make assumptions about what the answer will be — so we never ask the question. When you actually say the words, you get an answer. Whatever that answer is, it's more useful than the story you've been telling yourself.
My job isn't to tell you what to do. It's to help you get clear enough to do it yourself.