I was born in 1961, about three months after the consolidation of the Unitarian and Universalist denominations. Raised Presbyterian, I’m prone to say I was predestined to become a Unitarian Universalist. A lifelong amateur musician, I grew up singing in church and school choirs, playing the ‘cello in school orchestras (and later in a college string quartet), composing music and exploring music of all kinds. In college I majored in Economics, and took many electives in art and history. I earned an MBA directly after college, focusing on Organizations & Human Resources, including nonprofit management (besides my business school’s course in nonprofit management, I took the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Management Seminar). After a brief career encompassing jobs in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, I attended Union Theological Seminary in New York, and began my career in ministry as an intern at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. I was ordained in 1999 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington, New York, and have since served congregations in California and Texas, as well as serving as a hospital chaplain (paid or volunteer) in Ohio, California and Texas. I began serving First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans in August 2013.