MEET VANESSA
Not just what looks successful from the outside.
I’m interested in the choices underneath it. Money. Work. Relationships. Identity. The things we outgrow. The things we hold onto too long. And those moments when we realize the life we’ve built might need to change because we have changed.
I’ve spent a lot of my life learning, questioning, building, changing direction, and occasionally realizing I was confidently headed somewhere I no longer wanted to go.
That curiosity is a big part of why I write.
I write about money, work, relationships, growth, identity, and the choices that shape a life over time.
Sometimes that means financial clarity. Sometimes it’s a career change, a relationship, a boundary, grief, ambition, getting older, or realizing you’ve outgrown something you worked really hard to build.
There are practical pieces and deeply personal ones. Most live somewhere in between.
Because that’s where life tends to happen too.
I write because paying attention has changed my life.
Most of what I write starts with something I’ve lived, noticed, questioned, or had to learn for myself.
Sometimes it’s a big thing. Changing careers. Moving across the country. Losing someone I love. Realizing that something I worked hard to build doesn’t fit the same way anymore.
But just as often, it’s something ordinary. A conversation. A book. A relationship that makes me think. A decision I keep turning over. One of those moments when something I’ve felt for a long time finally becomes clear enough to put into words.
Writing is how I make sense of those things.
Not because I have life figured out. I don’t.
I write because I think there’s value in noticing what our lives are teaching us while we’re actually living them.
And if something I put into words helps someone else recognize something in their own life, ask a better question, trust themselves a little more, or simply think, I’ve felt that too—
then it was worth writing.
I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and now call Colorado home. I love the mountains, but I still have a soft spot for New England, old roads, small towns, and places that hold a lot of history.
I’m a lifelong learner and an unapologetic book underliner. I love coffee, day trips, long conversations, handwritten cards, sending small gifts for no particular reason, and finding squished-penny machines wherever I go. I’ve been collecting those pennies since my twenties and have nearly a hundred of them now.
I’m also the person who turns a tails-up penny over so the next person can find it heads-up. I know. It’s a little ridiculous. I’m keeping it.
I like plans, structure, and knowing where I’m going. I’ve also moved across the country, changed careers, started over, changed my mind, and learned that some of the best decisions of my life weren’t part of the original plan.
I care deeply about relationships, but I’m not particularly interested in collecting them. I’d rather have the real conversation, send the text because someone crossed my mind, make the dinner plans we keep talking about, or sit around a table long enough that nobody remembers what time it is.
I’m curious about people. I ask a lot of questions. I notice things.
And increasingly, I think a really good life is made up of far more ordinary moments than extraordinary ones.
I’m trying not to miss mine.
If something here feels familiar, you’re probably in the right place.
This is a place for thoughtful, curious people who are still becoming.
People who have built lives they’re proud of and are still willing to ask whether those lives fit who they are now.
You don’t need to have everything figured out. Neither do I.
Read something. Think about it. Take what helps. Leave what doesn’t. Come back when you need a little clarity, perspective, or simply a reminder that someone else has been thinking about these things too.
I’m glad you’re here.