About Me

About Me's are weird, but here we are.... 

​

I like to think of my life in pillars, which is sort of how my blog is setup. Family, career, and personal interests/growth are three of the pillars and is the easiest way to describe who I truly am.

Family

Where to even begin when describing family. A quick crash course, both my parents have been divorced and remarried more than twice, which makes the story rather confusing. Just know I have a slew of step-siblings/family members and ex-step-siblings/family members. At the end of the day, family is family and we're all brothers and sisters. Marriage, divorce, thousands of miles, nothing can stand between core relationships and our ability to love on another to the fullest.

I do currently have three brothers and a sister (across both sets of parents). They are all amazing. Being the oldest has also been something I'm aware has shaped me to enjoy being in the drivers seat. Being the one people look up to and rely on has always been apart of my life and why I think I feel called to pursue leadership and developing others. Both my parents are currently happily remarried and are amazing humans that helped mold me into who I am. We can argue nature vs nurture all day, but the experiences you have and the love you feel when you are a child do shape and change you. I'm forever grateful that I've always had parents who gave me opportunity, loved me, and were there for me 100%.

Currently married to the love of my life, I'm blessed beyond all comprehension what Dani is for me and does for my life. We met competing in CrossFit in 2015 and remained friends/teammates for roughly two years before we ever even thought about dating. In fact, we never even did think about dating! One of the first times we hung out outside the gym, we sort of fell into a natural relationship built on friendship, fitness, and passion for Jesus. We were both invested very heavily in our current endeavors, me with my career and CFA and Dani finishing up her doctorate program in physical therapy. This gave us a unique opportunity to thrive on coffee dates, early morning studying sessions, and three plus hours together a day in the gym training. We moved to Oregon in 2018 and were married a year later. Dani grounds me, loves me unconditionally, and truly teaches me how to love others through humility and pure selflessness. I learn from her daily and I cannot wait to see what she does and we can do together to help make the world a better place.

Lastly, I can't forget our dog ,or else when Dani reads this I will surely get a dirty look and then called out. Luna is the most energetic dog I've ever met. "She's a puppy, she'll outgrow that...", has been what everyone has said since day one, and everyone is still wrong. While she gets on my nerves, she also teaches me patience, love, and how to enjoy the moment regardless the circumstances. While she is technically our only (living) child, we are also expecting baby number one come June 2023! An update to this section will be due next year😉

Career

From an early age I've always been good at math, and therefore enjoyed doing math things, making pursing a career in business and finance the "thing to do". I received a degree in Finance from the University of Northern Iowa and moved onto the "big city" life in Des Moines, Iowa. Starting my career in investing was a phenomenal way to get a crash course on money and economics. Pursuing the CFA was also another process and goal that instilled curiosity and learning as a personal value. If we're not learning, we're not growing and this has pushed me to always be pursuing some sort of new or expanded knowledge base.

Moving to Oregon to chase my girlfriend at the time was an extreme change of pace and really opened my eyes to what opportunities were out there. After 3 months of job hunting, I was beyond fortunate to land a dream job at Nike World Headquarters. I've currently been with Nike for 5 years and have realized how little I really know about corporate finance and how the consumer economy really works. It's also showed me how many freaking cool jobs exist, even for finance people! I never would have dreamed of doing "finance" while also helping create the best apparel and footwear in the world.

Being at Nike has also allowed me to surround myself with mentors and people who are literally some of the best in the world at what they do. From leaders, to designers, to innovators, there's absolutely no shortage of talent or people to learn and grow from. I believe that working with teams in product creation and innovation have been what's really spurred my passion to create and become more artistic in life. This, coupled with my number one passion to lead, develop, and help others has landed me here. To hopefully pass along what knowledge I've gained from a very unique and broad set of experiences.

Personal Interests and Growth Through My Journey

Growing up in a small farm-town in Iowa, I was raised on the power of community, friendships, and family being close by. Team sports kicked off the competitive nature and also fostered an innate ability to lead. I was never really the "captain" of any teams until I was a senior in high school, as I was also never even close to being the best athlete on the team. By the time I was a senior, I had realized there is a lot more to a team than individual contribution. Grit, hard work, motivating others to grow, were also just as important and were things I could be the best in the room at without the best athletic ability. I may not have realized it at the time, but the foundation that was laid in those years might be the most important thing that's put me where I'm at today.

Moving into college, my interests were in partying and definitely not being a contributing member of society. Six months into my freshman year I had ballooned up to 270 pounds and was not living a life worth being proud of. Somehow I realized it was easier to chase girls when you weren't extremely over weight and that motivated me to start making some changes. The journey from 270 to 230 wasn't necessarily a healthy one, or one that drove my passion for health and fitness, but it did catalyze my ability to START working out more because it was easier and less embarrassing being "that fat guy" in the gym. Eventually I found CrossFit and became rather obsessed with working out, meal prepping, and learning all I could about training and nutrition. At this point I was probably down to 215 but had started to get stronger and more confident in who I was. I was turning from a C student at a community college to getting A's in a university college of business. I was working a 9-5 as an engineering student at John Deere instead of calling in sick once a week while stocking shelves at Kohls. Surrounding myself with a couple of new friends who were also hungry for growth really was foundational to moving me down the right path.

After CrossFitting with one or two other buddies in the Northern Iowa gym, I finally built the courage to try the local CrossFit gym. This was probably my first experience of really getting smoked with humble pie, but yet another moment in life that was necessary to continue pursuing my best self. CrossFit Kilo, to this day, is one of THE best things that ever happened to me. The coaching, the community, the ability to chase truly amazing athletes who also loved to grind for hours on end, was something I hadn't had in years and drove me to chase greatness. Moving to Des Moines after college, I joined CrossFit 8035 and that is when I started to find my true passion in competing, leading, and coaching. The community and our team there unlocked a lot of amazing things in my life (and where I found Dani). We were perennial Regional competitors and the last year of Regionals we were only a handful of points away from going to the CrossFit Games. I wasn't necessarily obsessed with leading at this stage in life, but looking back that was what truly filled my cup. Being on the competition floor with 3 or 5 of my teammates, them all looking to me to steer the boat, to give them direction in the heat of the moment, is a feeling I still miss very often. When I think of a "flow state", this is what I think of. Heart rate at 200+, working so hard I'm about to puke, but still having the ability to conduct the orchestra is a skill I was either blessed with or somehow developed on my journey up to this point.

CrossFit really drove two things for me and are two things I rely on heavily still today. First, I LOVE finding the hardest thing I haven't done yet and then going and conquering it. Moving to Oregon, this transitioned into running and ultrarunning. This space is my current passion. It's an arena where you can always run further, run faster, climb more feet, or go longer. On top of that, it's something I can do out in the beauty of nature and with Dani and Luna. The best of all worlds rolled up into one space. The second is persistent consistency and focusing on the long game pays immense dividends. In CrossFit, you can tangibly see yourself improve at certain skills or movements just by purely putting in the work. Want to string together 20 unbroken muscle ups? Do muscle ups 3-4 times a week, with structure, don't stop, and this will eventually lead you to your goal. The same I've seen now play out in life, running, growth, etc. time and time again.

Meeting Dani and eventually moving to Oregon has also really opened my eyes to how amazing our planet is. There is not enough time in our earthly lives to see and do everything, but I'm going to make sure I spend as much of my time exploring and adventuring as I can. Trail running, backpacking, hiking, mountaineering, biking, and the list goes on. Get me outside, doing something active or new and I'm in. I believe this stems from the earlier point on challenging myself. I love being not good at something because I know I can be good at it. Give me time and I'll prove everyone in the room wrong.

Where my interests have shifted even more the past two to three years are in my faith and obsession with personal growth. My journey with Jesus is easily the best thing that has ever happened to me. This will be a post for another day, but even the mere principles of Jesus and the Bible should be where we focus our lives and the entire world would be a better place. This has slowly taught me how important humility, love, compassion, patience, and stillness are to be able to thrive as a human. These things have immense carryover into the personal growth world. How we show up, how we treat others, where we focus our energy, all of this should be a focus for everyone. This is the number one reason I'm writing right now. It's never to late to start on the journey of making your life better. I don't have all the answers, but I've figured some things out along the way and I want nothing more than to share them with as many people who are willing to listen.

So join me! Let's love everyone we encounter and become brighter. Not just intellectually, but through our light that shines for all to see.

-DDD