About Me.

It’s the classic first interview question, “Tell us a little bit about yourself.” And I believe there’s a good reason it’s the first question. I think deep down each of know that we are more than a tool to accomplish a job, we are people of dignity and value.

So, what about me? Well, most of my childhood was spent in northern Michigan, although I finished high school in a farming community in Wisconsin, and received my undergraduate education at Minnesota State University, Mankato. After graduation in 2015, I served as a traveling Fraternity Consultant for a year until I found a more stable role within the Office of Administration for the same fraternity, based out of Indianapolis, Indiana for two years. In the fall of 2018, my partner and I started graduate school, both pursuing Master of Science degrees in Higher Education from Florida State University. For three years I worked full-time as a program coordinator for service leadership programs at Florida State, within the Center for Leadership & Social Change. Most recently, my partner and I relocated to Charlotte, NC, where after serving as the Assistant Director of Student Engagement for Johnson & Wales University – Charlotte for a year and a half, I received a promotion to Director of Student Engagement.

I live freely but reflectively. Where some have argued for greater intention and planning in my life, I have followed the sunlight. Living by my own idea of “Go where you grow.”

The following passages are intended to give you an even more detailed look into me as an individual, as a partner, and as a friend.

Intro Video

An individual.

I set my mind to whatever it is that I seek to accomplish. Whether that is running a 5k a month in 2017, recreating the plot of the 2009 film “Julie & Julia” during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021), or continuing to take graduate courses well after graduating (to date I have completed ~250 academic credits), I commit. One way that I am able to do this is by focusing on finding the lesson buried within the experience. I believe everything (and everyone) can teach us something if we are willing to learn; I am.

A partner.

Growing up in small, rural communities, can make coming to terms with being queer a slow and arduous process. Despite the external, and sometimes internal, misperception that fraternities are bastions of heterosexuality, it was the inclusiveness of the staff at the Office of Administration that made me finally feel comfortable expressing myself. It also happened to be at the Office of Administration that I met Dylan Bateman, who would go on to become my husband, Mr. Bateman-Schieler.

On faith.

I was baptized, attended communion classes, and was confirmed Catholic. As a child I even attended an Evangelical Bible camp. However, as I grew older I became increasingly troubled by the way religion was at times coopted by bigotry. I thought that if you wanted to be a good person, then you should just do it, without fear of consequence or hope for reward. Long story short, after a quick detour through teenage angst and nihilism, I found myself at the edge of secular humanism. Today, by recognizing our collective humanity, I am asked to question the socially constructed systems of differentiation which isolate me and defines everyone else as “the other.”

On Dogs.

If extrinsic motivation is necessary to being a good person, might I suggest dogs; As the saying goes, “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” I hope that I make Sadie and Charley (my dogs) proud. I rescued Sadie in early 2014 from a high kill shelter as an eight-week old puppy. After living together for several years, she moved in with my parents and their dog while I served as a traveling fraternity consultant. As I should have predicted, her love-ability was instantly embraced by my parents, who she still lives with today. Of course, whenever I call home she still gets excited to hear my voice. More recently, my partner and I brought home Charley. Born during the summer of 2020, she is the sweetest thing to come out of quarantine. I can’t wait for Sadie to meet her newest sister!

A family member.

Meet Kim (my mother), Steve (my father), and Liz (my older sister) – you can also get a peek of Sadie and Penny (the little dog). As with most families there have been bumps in our relationship. College proved to be particularly stressful. For two years I went to the same university as my sister, and at times our involvement overlapped. But where I prefer urban environments, she loves small towns; where I love abstract concepts found within the arts and humanities, she teaches math for a living. However, as we’ve both matured we have come to learn that we are not supposed to be the same people. Our differences make our family stronger. Just as the differences between my mother and my father have helped their marriage last for nearly 40 years. Family can teach us a lot of things, but for me, it taught me not to expect perfection from love. Love is like a rose bush; it takes significant care to maintain, and even then you’re bound to be stuck with a thorn from time to time.

A friend.

Friends are your chosen family and to me that is a very serious choice. Of course, over the years friends have come and go, but a few have always been by my side. At some point over the years someone asked me if I was sought quantity or quality in friends, a more vain me likely answered “quantity,” but happily life has taught me otherwise. I have some of the greatest friends. See for yourself!

Based on the VIA Institute of Character, Character Strengths Survey:

Love of Learning: “Mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge… (with) the tendency to add systematically to what one knows.”
Love: “Valuing close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing & caring are reciprocated.”
Creativity: “Thinking of novel and productive ways to conceptualize and do things.”
Judgement: “Not jumping to conclusions; being able to change one’s mind in light of evidence.”
Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence: “Noticing and appreciating beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in various domains of life.”

I have taken this assessment repeatedly, and near consistently I have found:

E: Extroverted, energized by people.
N: Intuitive, driven by possibilities and the bigger picture.
T: Thinking, makes logic-driven decisions.
J: Judging, organized and pre-planned.

Some webpages refer to ENTJ as “the CEO” or “the Commander,” but I tend to not take this fun personality assessment that seriously.

I have taken StrengthsFinder2.0 more than a handful of times, but most recently (Summer 2022):

Strategic
Input
Connectedness
Learner
Futuristic

My top 5 results, in the past, have also included:

Communication
Competition
Activator
Achiever
Significance
Focus
Relator
Analytical
WOO

I have only taken the Enneagram assessment once, and I have limited familiarity with its application.

1w9: “The Optimist,” ‘people with a type one wing nine personality tend to be judicial and rational in their behavior, but are generally more calm and balanced than other type ones.’

I have not seen much Higher Ed discussion on “The Four Tendencies” model, but I came across it on LindedIn and it seemed worth sharing, here:

Questioner: “Questioners question all expectations, and they respond to an expectation only if they conclude that it makes sense—in essence, they meet only inner expectations. They’re motivated by reason, logic, and fairness. They wake up and think, ‘What needs to get done today, and why?'”

I tend to score lowest in Dominance, higher in Influence, high in Steadiness, and highest in Conscientiousness, best matching a ‘Practitioner’ pattern:

“Practitioners enjoy being a team member and helping others succeed. They prefer a comfortable and cooperative environment where people are trusting and pleasant. They thrive when they can contribute to projects that require attention to detail.”

I am not sure how common this assessment is, but we used it in educational programming while I was at Lambda Chi Alpha Office of Administration:

Owl: Collaborating, “…conflict as a problem to be solved and seek a solution that achieves both their goals and the goals of the other person; See conflicts as a means of improving relationships by reducing tensions between two persons.”

I have opinions about ‘Love Languages’ as an assessment – particularly around its founder’s expressed beliefs related to queer identities. But, it has some use regardless:

Quality Time (35)
Physical Touch (32)
Words of Affirmation (23)
Acts of Service (6)
Receiving Gifts (3)

BONUS: Fun Facts You Didn't Ask For

I have completed seven 30-day cycles of the Whole30 food program (including a 78-day streak… in preparation for my wedding).
I drink coffee black (without cream or sugar), not because I don’t like cream or sugar (although I do try to avoid dairy), but because I view them at the opportunity cost of more coffee in a finite sized cup.
In 6th-grade I chose to learn the French horn because our band instructor said it would be too hard for anyone in our class (he said something similar about the oboe, but I had already seen my older sister struggle with reeds while she played the clarinet).
I have tried NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) twice (2013 & 2014). My record is just under 30k words in 20+ days.
In the time between undergrad & grad school I digitized 25 years of family photos and edited them using Photoshop into a scrapbook for my parents. It was a project of love, but it also helped me fight boredom in the time after work, when I previously would have been working on homework or going to a club meeting.
I once had to write a letter to Sammy Adams (national recording artist) asking him not to perform songs that made direct reference to binge drinking as part of a contract exploration for a campus performance in 2014… he said no.
I once walked 97 miles from Mankato, MN to St. Paul, MN as part of a higher education funding initiative, supporting the Minnesota State (formerly MnSCU) Board of Trustees’ request for a $97M increase in base funding. Three of us started the walk, I was the only one to complete it… three days later.
In 8th grade my class went on a 26 mile biking trip. When it was announced, I suggested it didn’t seem like a good idea. At mile 24, I fell off my bike and broke my arm.
I’ve never learned how to use the ‘shift’ key on a keyboard, so I just tap the caps lock key before and after every Capitalized letter.
My husband, Dylan, and I spent nearly three months working our way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, donating $1 to our local food pantry for each new recipe we cook (you can see what we accomplished on Instagram and TikTok- @2cookinghusbands).
I don’t know… there’s probably more of them. But, that seems like a good start for now.