Leadership experience came early to me—as the eldest of six children I had ample opportunity to use the power of persuasion on my younger siblings.  I was nonetheless anxious to leave the Mountain West when it came time for college, and I attended a wonderful women’s college in Virginia, double majoring in biochemistry and piano performance.

 

My college experience afforded me not only an incredible education in a beautiful setting, but I met Roy Burns, the smartest person I’ve ever met, and although it was ten years earlier than I had planned to do so, we married after my graduation. You don’t tell the fates to wait when incredible opportunities come along.  

​

After our marriage we moved to Boston. I deferred my Ph.D. program and took the opportunity to enroll in culinary school, actually cooking a meal with Julia Child in her home. The next year I started work on my Ph.D. in neuroscience at Rockefeller University. However, I soon realized research wasn’t (at the time) right for me and I entered the private sector.

 

I worked in enterprise software for more than 10 years before starting my own company, Learnivore, an online marketplace to connect people to private instructors in the arts, athletics and academics. We grew the platform to more than 25,000 instructors in all 50 states, making it one of the largest such marketplaces.

 

Roy and I have two sons and a daughter; and it is for their future that I am running. Over the past 18 months, I have watched as time after time, adult fear, or some special interest, was placed above the needs of kids. It’s clear to me that as a society, we put kids last. We need to fix that.

​

We are at a crossroads—but we are not talking about it. We need to start having a conversation about where we are going from here, and what we are doing—to our kids, to our economy, to our community—to our own sanity. We are quickly becoming a masked, submissive, permission-seeking society. I firmly believe this shift will destroy the curiosity, innovation and initiative that are at the heart of our state’s incredible success. Yet there is no debate, there is no alternative being presented. Of course, there are always other approaches to solving a problem. Unfortunately, elected and unelected officials are either too myopic, or too lazy to look for them. Nor are we are demanding that they do so—often because we fear being labeled with some nasty name. These pejoratives have no power. They are used only to silence dissent and debate. We need this debate.

​

Think back a little on 2019, early 2020. Think of the richness that used to imbue every aspect of our lives. Think of the connections that have been severed or frayed. There is no reason for us to continue to live in this bizarre new abnormal. All throughout the country, states have abandoned these harmful, bizarre, byzantine measures. Their health outcomes are no worse (despite far less healthy populations). But their children thrive, their economies thrive, their communities quickly re-weave the ties that bound them together.  

​

If, after having a robust debate, we end up choosing this path, so be it. At least we will have had the conversation. It is impossible for me to believe that anyone could possibly decide that this is what they want for themselves and their families.

​

Fun stuff… I am an avid reader with a wide range of interests. I love learning languages; I love to host and to cook; and, I love to travel. I am a half-ironman triathlete. I love running and skiing. I still play piano, and now teach my kids piano. My son placed third in a prestigious piano competition recently, and was supposed to play at Carnegie hall--but COVID.