"aunt first, everything else second" — where that actually came from

People sometimes ask about that line. It's the first thing you see on my website, it's in my Instagram bio, it's basically the thesis statement of everything I've built. So I figured it deserved its own explanation instead of just living in a tagline.

it wasn't a branding decision first

Before it was a line on a website, it was just true. My niece lives with me. She has for a while now. And somewhere in the last few years, without me really deciding it on purpose, she became the thing that everything else in my life gets measured against. Then, 6 months after she was born… I got blessed with a nephew. Double the trouble and double the fun.

Client work matters. The business matters. But none of it gets to come before her, and at some point I stopped pretending otherwise — to myself or to anyone else.

it changed how I built my business, not just how I talk about it

This isn't just a nice sentiment I put on a webpage. It's actually shaped real decisions. The hours I work. The clients I take on. The boundaries I hold, even when holding them is uncomfortable. The way I structure a Tuesday so I can be present for an after-school snack and a story before I get back to my inbox.

I built a freelance business specifically so I could have this kind of life. So when something has to give, it's not going to be the time with her. That's not a slogan. That's the actual operating principle.

what they’ve taught me, that nobody warns you about

I didn't expect being an aunt to make me better at my job, but it has. They’ve taught me a kind of patience that doesn't come naturally to me… the kind where you can't rush a feeling, you can't optimize a kid having a hard moment, you just have to sit in it with them until it passes.

It’s taught me to actually look up from my laptop. To notice the small thing she's excited about, even when I'm in the middle of something. To remember that being needed and being available aren't always the same thing, and that the people who matter most deserve the second one, not just the first.

why I lead with this instead of hiding it

I could have built a brand that was just "operations manager who happens to have a personal life." A lot of people do exactly that, and it's a perfectly fine way to run a business.

I didn't want that, though. I wanted the thing that matters most to me to be the thing people see first — not buried in an About page, not something I only mention if it comes up. Because if you're going to work with me, or follow along with what I'm building, I'd rather you know upfront what's actually steering the ship.

It's her. It's always going to be her.

Everything else — the systems, the crochet, the business, all of it — comes after that. Which is exactly how I want it.