Pillar

Storytelling

The vehicle through which people understand experience

Writing that gives experience a voice and a throughline.

Highlighted stories and artifacts.

Community event · July 2025

A Backyard BBQ that Became a Calling

The Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ started as a way to celebrate community and music in our own backyard, but through fate it became a personal cause, a platform, and a story to tell that was much bigger than I would ever imagine.

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Related writing and events

Authored pieces and public events.

Essay · July 17, 2026

When the BBQ Found Its Purpose

What started as a fun way to celebrate music has become a tradition of giving back. The Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ is now an annual community fundraiser powered by music, friendship, and generosity, crushing fundraising goals and generating nearly $9,000 over two years in support of diabetes awareness, research, and the race for a cure.

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Essay · July 13, 2026

Turning World Cup Chaos Into a Tracker You Can Actually Use

Built to make the FIFA™ World Cup easier to follow in real time, the tracker brings standings, projections, bracket paths, match details, scorers, and team profiles into one readable view. The archive preserves what the tracker saw, how its projections performed, and what changed as the tournament moved from group-stage uncertainty into knockout clarity, while setting the stage for future tournament coverage.

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Essay · July 13, 2026

The Final Whistle Was Just the Beginning

The inaugural edition of the FIFA™ World Cup Tracker has been archived. Explore the complete 2026 tournament, review projection performance, and see what's coming next as the platform expands toward the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.

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Essay · June 21, 2026

Shortening the Idea-Build Cycle with AI

The faster tools can build, the more important it becomes to define intent clearly, inspect output carefully, test edge cases, and keep the experience coherent. The product-AI confluence is not about replacing judgment. It is about shortening the loop between seeing a need, shaping a response, and putting something useful into the world.

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Essay · June 13, 2026

We -Are- (Can Be) The Champions

Most meaningful accomplishments begin as unreasonable ideas.

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Essay · May 3, 2026

I Am Cyborg

As a product manager, I think a lot about systems. Not just what they are supposed to do, but what happens when they fail. What signals they depend on. What inputs they can interpret. What outputs they produce. What work happens invisibly in the background until something breaks badly enough that everyone suddenly understands how much the system was doing all along. That is how I have come to understand my body. You see, I have Type 1 diabetes, as do millions of other people.

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Essay · June 30, 2014

Disrupt yourself

The NYT went from editorial titan to digital dwarf even after a massive effort to digitize their presence. Realizing the miss they attacked the problem as any reporting organization would: they talked to people like crazy. What they came up with was a two-pronged approach: disruptively grow their audience and digitally fortify their newsroom.

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Community event · July 2027

Fourth Annual Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ

Stay tuned. We’re gearing up for the 4th Annual Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ, with plans to raise the bar again and make an even bigger impact than before.

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Community event · July 2026

Third Annual Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ

Welcome to the Third Annual Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ, a lively and impactful fundraising event dedicated to supporting Breakthrough T1D's vital mission. Join us for a spirited day filled with great music, delicious BBQ, and a community united in the fight against type 1 diabetes.

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