Who am I?

I am the son of two parents who were the first in their generation to attend college. I am the grandson of two sets of grandparents who, at one point in their lives as children all grew up on a plantation, in both Northern and Central Louisiana. Because of the challenges they overcame, the sacrifices they made, and their strength to succeed in spite of what seemed like a deck stacked against them, I found myself on the campus of the University of Houston in 2005. After an unsuccessful 5 years at LSU (in terms of graduating), freshly married with 2 young daughters, I vowed to do better and get a degree, and not have the sacrifices made of those in my

proverbial village to be made in vain. I switched my major from Engineering to Education.

I made the Dean’s List every semester onwards.

I graduated with honors and begin what would be the first of a ten-year career teaching mathematics to High Schoolers at every level to demographics across the spectrum; rich kids, poor kids, black kids, white kids, public school kids, and private school kids. I interacted with students from all walks of life passing along my passion or problem solving to them.

How Did I Arrive Here?

Then came 2014. I found myself separated, ultimately divorced, and sleeping on a colleague’s floor while figuring out who I was and how I had arrived there. It truly was an extremely confusing point in my life at that time with no clear-cut objective on finding a way out.

And then, I met my new wife who had grown up in the Pacific Northwest. We were different on a lot of levels, her growing up Mormon and me, Baptist; her love for musicals and my passion for Neo Soul and Down South Hip-Hop. But we also connected on so many levels, and after moving in together and truly becoming established in our lives with each other, in 2016 we decided to apply for a couple’s caretaking position on Vendovi Island, Washington state, thinking, what’s the worst thing that can happen by applying? We get the job? And we did.

How Do I Get My Groceries?

Vendovi Island is a day-use only Nature Preserve owned by the San Juan Preservation Trust. It has an 80-foot dock that is only accessible by private boat (or sea kayak), and we see upwards of 3000 guests a year. The island itself is 217 acres and has 2 year-round residents – my wife and I. I’ve grown a lot since moving here. I have had to adapt to three different cultures and communities at the same time (i.e. Pacific Northwest community, the boating community, and the island community), all while navigating a heighten state of both political and racial unrest, a pandemic, the loss of my mother and my wife’s father, and living 3000 miles from my girls, my

family, and the place I’ve called home my whole life. As a black man living inside the Pacific Northwest bubble, in a career that has been synonymous with its non-inclusive practices, every day I get to be an ambassador, both for the organization that I work for and for those who paved the way back home for me to be here. Every day I interact with the public, I get to engage in civil conversations. Once we get past the mundane thoughts such as how do we manage to get provisions to the island (we shop at a co-op by the way), I often find myself tying in

concepts of preserving land to concepts of preserving an equitable and inclusive lifestyle for all peoples, especially for those who have been systematically marginalized. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work in conservation as a caretaker, and fortunate to have cross paths with the Civil Conversations Project because, for me, my work is my life and my life is my work.