I was always a shy kid.
Give me a pen or (later) a keyboard, and I could build whole universes on the page, peopled with colorful characters. As a copywriter and ghostwriter I got very good at helping other people tell their own stories and find their confidence.
But when it came to telling my story? No thank you! I don’t need to talk about myself!
I hated being the center of attention—it was so much easier to be the person behind the curtain: the ghostwriter, the freelancer, the one you could hand an assignment to… rather than the person standing up front, owning her voice.
Maybe it was just introversion. Maybe it was social conditioning to stay small and not take up space.
And whatever was going on, there was always a voice in my head, whispering that I was selling myself short.
Then, in 2023, everything changed.
After spending the day selling books at a street fair in Portland, OR, I was driving home with my friend when the windshield shattered and my eye exploded in pain.
It was a drive-by shooting, and I’d been hit by a stray bullet.
I was incredibly lucky that day. I was blinded in my left eye, but that was the extent of the damage. I’d survived, and I was going to be okay—if a bit more pirate-y from now on.
I would have loved to lie low and recover privately from what happened, but I didn’t have that luxury. It was a public event, and the news wanted to speak to me. Gun advocacy organizations wanted me to share my story. And, as a public figure I needed to decide how to tell my community, readers, and clients.
After all, with a facial disfigurement like this, there’s no hiding what happened. People were going to notice.
I had a choice: either I got out in front of telling my own story, or other people would tell it for me.
So I did the thing I’d avoided for most of my life: I learned how to tell my own story.
And as I told my story, I re-learned something I’ve always known.
I already believed stories were powerful. I’ve built my whole life around story in one way or another. But I didn’t fully understand how life-changing it can be to stop waiting for permission and finally claim your own voice.
Because when you can tell your story, you create ripples in ways you never could imagine—in your business, in your community, and in the world.
I realized I wanted something bigger than what I’d been doing. I loved helping people one-on-one, and I’m proud of the books I’ve helped bring into the world… but I wanted to help more people at scale. I wanted to teach. I wanted to coach. I wanted to help as many other people as possible find their voices.
That’s why I founded Story Rebel.
Story Rebel exists to educate others about storytelling, inspire people to stand up and share their own stories, and coach people through finding clarity in their story—whether that looks like stronger marketing, a signature talk, or writing a book that actually matters.
Because stories are powerful. And powerful stories make an impact.
I’ve seen that impact in my own life since I started telling my story after losing my eye. Now my mission is simple:
To help as many people as possible finally learn how to tell their own.