I've spent my early twenties collecting academic gold stars: writing an honours thesis, presenting at national conferences, publishing in academic journals… Yet as much as I enjoy the rigour of research, I’ve become increasingly curious about the pursuit of building a life on my own terms.

A decision at seventeen to leave social media indefinitely allowed me to observe its effects on the people around me like an anthropologist on fieldwork. I followed that thread into my research, collecting empirical evidence for an intuition I'd carried since adolescence: curating identity for an online audience and living through a screen is…probably not the healthiest thing. Instead of optimizing Instagram captions, I found myself studying the forces that shape how we perceive ourselves, our desires, and our relationships with one another.

Every other aspect of my life followed suit, from a two-year stint in veganism to straying from my fundamentalist Christian upbringing; who I am is less an inheritance than something I’ve shaped over time, leaving me willfully optimistic about people's capacity to step off the beaten path and build lives that feel chosen.

When my attention settles on someone, it is complete. I've been told I'm intense. I suspect that's because I remember things people didn't realize they were telling me. I follow what's left unsaid as what is, and I tend to follow that thread wherever it leads. There's a quiet pleasure in watching someone become a little less guarded, a little less rehearsed.

I'm drawn to people who have done the work of becoming themselves, and who still leave room to change. Who can hold strong convictions graciously, laugh at absurdity, and be delighted by things they didn't expect to enjoy. The kind of connection I'm interested in doesn't rush to smooth out its edges. It begins over dinner and, against the grain of modern speed, deepens through shared experiences, small rituals, inevitable imperfections, and the gradual accumulation of trust.

Perhaps this is where our paths first cross. Say hello.