ABOUT ME
Hello! I'm Kristen!
I'm the person who accidentally sees the whole system while everyone else debates one broken checkbox. I translate between engineering, security, and compliance like a multilingual diplomat with a caffeine habit —connecting intent to implementation and spotting root causes three layers down.
I love regulations and standards (yes, really), especially when they nudge organizations toward best practices. I'm an Individual Participant with the PCI Security Standards Council and currently deep in InfoGov, cybersecurity, process improvement, AI, and an[other] emerging manuscript.
My leadership style? Grow the people, fix the system, skip the ego. I find my team's "special purposes," make boring tasks bearable (sometimes even fun), and keep us focused on the work that actually matters.
Microsoft may be the mothership, but curiosity is the operating system.
LITTLE CHOICES MATTER
Years ago, I received a promotional bracelet that had a phrase, "Little Choices Matter," imprinted. Since then, I have found myself returning to it daily —if not hourly! Whether it is in personal life, career, day-to-day interactions, or relationships, I believe this statement cannot be reiterated enough. I use it to remind myself that all choices, no matter how small, have an effect. Those consequences or benefits collect to make a larger impact.
I find this awareness to be a guiding factor in the transformations that I am able to create in teams, business processes, and software architecture / refactoring. From being truly present in an employee 1:1, to weighing scalability options in foundational aspects of a mammoth application, one should never lose sight of the bigger picture and how each choice has the potential to be built upon —or to impose an artificial limitation. It all originates in the little choices; each one DOES matter.