In 2012, I left my career in architecture and began giving educational mezcal tours full-time. Building relationships with mezcaleros and sampling the world's best destilado de agave is my professional and personal passion, along with visiting Oaxacan markets, perfecting my grasshopper sauce recipe, cooking, and generally educating people on mezcal. My role in Maguey Melate is to bring the most authentic mezcaleros into our club, make sure each bottle of agave spirits is best in class, and advise on how to make each customer's educational experience as complete and accurate as possible!

As a child, I grew up on stories...whether from family members, books and magazines, or TV and movies. I became fascinated by different places and the people that lived there and wanted to travel and see the world for myself. As I grew older I fell in love with photography and began to document my travels and adventures, and eventually started telling my own stories. Since starting with Maguey Melate I have fallen in love with the people and culture of Oaxaca. My role is to photograph the mezcaleros and tell their stories to help bring the feeling of the palenques closer to our American customers.

From carpenter, to small business owner, from engineer, to entrepreneur, its been a long journey leading me to Oaxaca. Upon visiting my first palenque, sipping my way through the tasting room and absorbing all the context around this tradition, I quickly realized I had stumbled on to an opportunity that I could happily dedicate myself to. My project management experience in the automation industry has come in handy, but the role I pride myself on most is surrounding myself with an amazing team. In addition to agave spirits, I love entrepreneurship, teaching, traveling, and playing on my OAX basketball team.