I didn't find my love for numbers in a classroom. I found it sitting on the floor of a library with an accounting book I couldn't put down, finally knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. What followed was 20 years of doing the work — cost accounting, tax and financial planning, managing books for companies and eventually for my own household.

Behind the spreadsheets, I was living a very different reality. For years I was in a relationship where the things that made me who I am were used against me — quietly, methodically — until I stopped trusting my own instincts. But I had kept the records. Every spreadsheet, every statement, every account. When the financial attacks started, those numbers were the only thing he couldn't touch.

My lawyer said it to me directly: "You know your story and your finances better than anyone. You should do this for other women." That's when Velvet Sovereign was born.

I work with women in the middle of divorce, women launching businesses, women who've been financially controlled or never taught how any of this works. I'm not here to judge your numbers or talk over your head — I'm here to sit with you, explain it in plain language, and listen.