I was a chef. Today I’m a hospitality advisor and sommelier. Somewhere along the way I became a published poet, started making art, taught yoga, practiced meditation, traveled across six continents, lived in a handful of American cities, and accumulated considerably more questions than answers.
I’m increasingly okay with that.
I’m interested in what happens when we pay attention: to a person across the table, to the history inside a bottle, to a belief we don’t understand, to the way a city changes us before we know it has.
Hospitality, to me, is making room—for people, questions, contradiction, pleasure, and another person’s lived experience. Professionally, that means helping places understand whether the experience fulfills the promise they are making.
Soften the heart.
Sharpen discernment.
I now live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with my wife, Loren. I still travel often, especially to Mexico and Europe. I’m still learning how to hold an opinion strongly enough to matter and loosely enough to change.