Starting in August 2022, I will be studying philosophy as a PhD student at the University of Utah.

How did I get here? When I went back to school back around 2018, I knew I wanted to go to graduate school, but I didn’t think I wanted to study English and philosophy, which were my first majors. I went and got an economics degree, with the intention of eventually going to graduate school in economics. Getting a graduate degree in economics can be very lucrative and leads to lots of opportunities.

For a while, I didn’t consider graduate school in philosophy–mostly because of money and prestige. Studying philosophy in graduate school prepares you for one job: a philosopher professor. That is a highly competitive job, as there are more PhDs than there are professor positions.

I knew I wanted to do two things in my career: teach college classes and write and publish books. And one day, I asked myself: if what other people thought of me didn’t matter and if money didn’t matter, what did I really want to study?

I loved studying philosophy in college. Even when I was getting an economics degree, I found myself reading and thinking about the intersection of philosophy, economics, and psychology.

So here I am, studying philosophy. I’ll be able to teach college classes and write and publish books. And I’m excited for the opportunity to learn along the way.

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A while ago, I wrote my first nonfiction book. I’ve been revising that and trying to figure out how to publish and market books. I’ve learned to treat my online presence more as a brand, and I’ve been trying to figure out what that looks like for me.

I’ve been blogging since 2007, and started out sharing about my life, my family, random thoughts, and some book reviews. I didn’t really think about an audience until 2018, when I started this blog to write essays for other people to read. I’ve blogged about whatever I was learning and figuring out. But I know if I want to build up a following, I have to somehow focus my brand.

In my head, I had two separate things I do: I write inspirational things one one hand, and then I learn about economics and philosophy and whatever interests me on the other. But recently, I’ve been wanting to make those two things come together. Because the things I learn in my studies also often help me in my life–they help me form better beliefs, understand other people, and make better decisions.

So I’m going to press forward and keep trying to build up my online presence in a positive way, sharing what I think might be helpful to you. I write to people who are like me–moms who love to learn and are continually striving to live better. And to everyone else who is interested in practical advice that comes from an intersection of faith, philosophy, inspiration, economics, and human behavior.