The PNW

The PNW — short for the Pacific Northwest — was the first home I ever purchased on my own.

Born and raised in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington, this home became the place where my love for design, gathering, and hospitality truly came alive.

During the pandemic, I slowly transformed the property room by room — from interiors and landscaping to outdoor living and entertaining spaces — with one intention at the center of it all:
creating a home that brought people together.

Over the years, it became the backdrop for family holidays, annual Friendsgivings, neighborhood Halloween parties, long dinners, laughter-filled nights, and countless memories shared with the people I loved most.

But this home also carried a much deeper personal story.

After college, I spent a year living in Los Angeles searching for sunshine and a different pace of life. But when my mother was diagnosed with cancer, my sister Marilou asked me to move back home to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to family during her chemotherapy treatments.

So I stayed.

What followed became an entire chapter of my life:
building a home, a community, meaningful friendships, a successful career in marketing and branding, and a growing passion for interiors, landscaping, hospitality, and storytelling.

Years later, during Marilou’s own battle with cancer, she asked me to make her a promise:
to eventually sell my home, follow the sunshine, and fully embrace a new chapter in Arizona.

She told me how much she loved watching my Instagram stories and reels as I designed and launched our family’s vacation rental in Arizona — and how happy she was to see me glowing there.

That encouragement — paired with her belief in me — gave me the courage to finally let go of the life I had built in Seattle and step into something new.

When I eventually began splitting time between Seattle and Phoenix, I transformed the PNW home into a short-term rental.

Hosting guests there while continuing to create meaningful experiences for my own family reinforced something I had always intuitively known:

Design is storytelling.
And the spaces we create are meant to be shared.

This project ultimately became the bridge to everything that followed:
the growth of Maximize Studio & Design, the evolution into hospitality and experience strategy, and the deeper philosophy around intentional living that now shapes everything I build.

The PNW will always hold a special place in my heart.

It was where I built my career.
Where I discovered my love for design and hospitality.
Where I learned the emotional power of home.
And ultimately, the place that gave me the courage to follow the sunshine and begin again.