I came to technology through music and teaching. I stayed for the code, built a business around it, and grew into leading the systems and people behind it.
Understand how people work. Make complicated things usable. Build something that helps.
Music & education↗Design & development↗Platforms & leadership
01 / Career
From making websites to connecting systems.
Hands-on development, independent business ownership, and technical leadership. Each chapter made the next one possible.
Current role
Director of Technology
Building software, guiding technical decisions, and looking after the teams and infrastructure that make delivery possible.
I joined as a Junior WordPress Developer in March 2018 and moved into a Senior WordPress Developer role that June. My path since then has included Director of Development / Lead Developer and Manager of Development & Creative, leading to my current role as Director of Technology.
The responsibility grew beyond delivering individual websites: company technology initiatives, connected service applications, development standards, team support, and the ongoing needs of an agency’s clients.
Develop custom WordPress themes and plugins, Laravel applications, and integrations that connect client websites with business systems.
Lead developers, designers, and multimedia specialists; oversee contributors and connect their work to delivery priorities.
Advise on technology needs and initiatives, train colleagues, and provide technical support across the company.
Bring technical direction and hands-on implementation to company platforms, reporting, and client website operations.
Managed more than 700 domains and oversaw a major move from Amazon Web Services to a managed WordPress platform. Built an in-house CRM connected to client websites for content management, analytics, and client access.
Independent practice
Owner & web designer / developer
University projects became referrals, and referrals became a business. I designed and developed client websites, created online tools, and maintained the websites, social channels, and web presence those clients depended on.
That meant owning the whole relationship: understanding the request, choosing the approach, building and maintaining the work, meeting deadlines, and handling the accounting. Custom WordPress themes and plugins sat alongside graphic design, branding, and work in platforms such as Weebly, Wix, and NationBuilder.
The experience taught me to connect a technical decision to a client’s actual needs, explain it clearly, and stay accountable after launch.
Designed and developed the organization’s new website, an electronic system for delivering materials, and registration systems for professional development workshops.
The work included a custom registration workflow built around Google Drive, document organization for digital distribution, and visual design. It was an early lesson in using accessible tools to improve the operations behind a website.
Web systems, learning design & faculty support
Building the tools around teaching, while learning how to design the teaching itself.
STAR Grant 2013–2014
Redesigned and managed the grant website, developed web systems for faculty courses, created classroom resources, and supported events, visual design, and social media. Developed and delivered training on classroom websites and teaching mathematics through calculator programming.
ITFSE Department 2012–2013
Developed web-based systems for faculty, supported coursework and Blackboard, and contributed graphic design and video editing, including assistance with a music performance documentary.
ELMS Grant 2012–2013
Administered a 10-hour, self-directed professional development course in Blackboard and developed training videos for the grant and affiliated courses.
02 / Technology & AI
Code that connects. Tools with a purpose.
My work spans the interface, the service behind it, and the integrations between systems. The tools change; understanding the problem still comes first.
01 / APPLICATIONS
PHP, Laravel & WordPress
Service applications, custom plugins and themes, content modeling, and centralized platform functionality. Laravel supports the marketing platform and the AI-powered call-analysis service.
PHP
Laravel
WordPress
MySQL
02 / INTERFACES
Web development & reporting
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for usable web interfaces; React embeds for application reporting. A foundation in responsive websites, custom interfaces, and explaining complex information visually.
JavaScript
React
HTML / CSS
Sass
Bootstrap
jQuery
03 / INTEGRATIONS
APIs, webhooks & connected data
Integrations with Google Analytics, Google Maps, CallRail, UptimeRobot, Twilio, and multiple POS vendors. Systems exchange call recordings, reporting data, lead activity, and sale outcomes through API and webhook workflows.
Third-party APIs
Webhooks
JSON
Twilio
POS integrations
04 / OPERATIONS
Platforms, delivery & leadership
Domain and website management at agency scale, infrastructure migration, technology planning, team direction, contributor oversight, and colleague training. Enough context to connect implementation details with the people responsible for running the system.
Managed WordPress
AWS migration
Technical direction
Team management
AI / In the workflow and in the product
A collaborator. And an application capability.
I use AI to develop and design, and I build applications that integrate it into a real service workflow. Those are connected parts of my practice.
Development and design work: exploring approaches and creating software and interfaces.
Codex
Code collaboration, implementation, and iteration, including this portfolio and its interactive music experience.
Gemini
Call transcription within the call-analysis workflow, connected to the application’s integration and reporting capabilities.
Suno & specialized AI tools
Creative exploration and music, alongside tools chosen for a particular use case.
The wider toolkit: design, learning & creative production
Earlier work and my education also involved these tools. They explain the breadth of the background behind my current development work.
Visual design & media
Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape, Acrobat, Premiere Elements, iMovie, and video editing.
Learning & instruction
Blackboard, Moodle, Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and training video production.
Content & collaboration
Drupal, NationBuilder, Weebly, Wix, Google Workspace, and Microsoft Office.
Music & audio
Finale, Sibelius, Audacity, and Fruity Loops: notation, recording, and composition alongside percussion performance.
03 / Publications
An idea worth sharing beyond the room.
Writing about technology began with a practical question: how can teachers make it useful to the students in front of them?
Article / Original publication & republications
Keep It Simple and Make It Interactive
Connecting to the 21st Century Music Student
Written for music educators considering technology in their classrooms. The article connects the way students learn and communicate with practical choices about classroom tools and activities.
First published in North Carolina in 2013, then republished in Georgia, Nebraska, and a national music association journal.
ConstructingMusic.com explored how fundamental music concepts could be taught in an asynchronous online environment. The project brought research, instructional strategy, and web development into one learning experience, followed by an NCMEA conference presentation.
Conference sessions, teacher training, self-directed courses, technical documentation, and one-to-one support. Explaining the work has always been part of doing it.
2013NCMEA
Flipping the Music Classroom
The flipped classroom model and ways music educators could use classroom websites to extend learning.
Historical presentation archives are hosted on Google Slides; access depends on the original sharing settings.
Beyond the conference stage
Creating Classroom Websites Teacher training developed through a UNCW internship and the STAR Grant, focused on template-based tools and sound web development practices.
Teaching Math Through Code Professional development using the TI-83 calculator’s programming capabilities to teach mathematical concepts.
Training & documentation Group, one-to-one, on-site, and remote instruction, with technical manuals, training videos, and self-paced course materials.
05 / Education & music
A different foundation. The same curiosity.
2015 / UNC WILMINGTON
Master of Science in Instructional Technology
Instructional design, learning with technology, and the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of learning experiences.
2011 / UNC GREENSBORO
Bachelor of Music in Music Education
Music education and percussion performance: a foundation in practice, communication, preparation, and helping people develop a difficult skill.
Percussion / Composition / Creative practice
Music still changes how I approach the work.
Teaching and performing music taught me to listen, break something complex into parts, and keep the larger shape in mind. Those habits belong in software and leadership too.
I performed with the UNCW Wind Ensemble during graduate school and wrote Seven Stages for Piano and Vibraphone, performed at my UNCG recital by Sara Wood and Melissa Mitchel. Today, creative experiments still have a place beside the technical work, including this site’s interactive visualizer and browser drum machine.