Guided by experience. Powered by connection. Delivered through boutiques.

In 2009, I started our town's first girls' soccer program. In 2010, I invested my life savings into a bridal boutique with two friends who'd owned it for eight years. I was the tech-forward partner—Instagram and Pinterest had just launched, and I could see the digital transformation coming.

After three years, our partnership naturally evolved—it was time for them to move on, and I was going to embrace the digital future alone. But here's what I discovered during those ten years of clawing my way to success: The industry was accidentally training brides to shop wrong.

Brides would start online, get overwhelmed by endless inspiration, fixate on dresses they couldn't even find, then arrive having missed the entire point. They'd skip the relationships, the stories behind the designers and the boutiques, and the intentional process of finding what actually fits their life.

Meanwhile, I was building real partnerships with designers who supported us with training and resources. I was one of the first users of Bridal Live, giving feedback to the founder who later sold for millions. I understood how technology could transform this business.

And in 2015, while running my boutique, I started something else: the first and only FIRST Robotics program in Mercer County. Along with other parents and our Economic Development director, we built it from nothing. Our kids went to state, raised close to $15,000 annually from local businesses, and we always said "we're building more than robots—we're building a community."

Those kids inspired me to believe I could build anything.

By 2019, I was finally negotiating my exit from the bridal boutique. Then February 2020 hit—a pipe burst in my sample studio, destroying 250 dresses. March brought COVID. My bank said: "You're not selling. You have to stay."

I was trapped. But in October 2020, I finally handed the keys to my manager, the new owner, and joined a tech startup, thinking I'd never touch bridal again. The emotional drain is real—burnout in bridal affects everyone.

But I couldn't unsee the patterns.

People in my community kept coming to me for dress advice—brides, moms, prom shopping. After coaching soccer for 8 years and mentoring robotics kids, I realized this was my identity: I see problems and build solutions.

So I built BRIA—AI that captures the invisible moments that matter. When inspiration becomes intention. When browsing becomes buying. When overwhelm transforms into confidence.

Here's what makes this different: I totally bootstrapped. The girl who never had new dresses, who started soccer programs and robotics teams, is now teaching an entire industry how to help women shop intentionally for life's most important dress.

Wedding dress designers finally see which designs create authentic connection. Brides get curated confidence instead of endless scrolling. Boutiques receive pre-qualified appointments from women who understand the value of the experience.

This isn't about wedding dresses. It's about what happens when someone who's spent 15+ years building communities refuses to accept "that's just how it's always been" and builds the solution herself.

Every bride who uses our platform is helping reshape how women shop for life's biggest moments. I'm proving that the future of AI isn't about removing humans…it's about teaching people how to connect more intentionally.

The girl who never had new dresses is now building the future of how the entire industry serves women.