Who is Ada?

1993

The start of my existence. Everyone grows up in ‘unprecedented times’, but I got to experience the societal shifts of the rise of the internet (social media, streaming video, cloud computing, instant messaging, etc).

1998-2000

Kindergarten and first grade at a public school. This is the first time I remember being told I was smart, and it was all downhill from there.

2000-2003

My parents sent us to a private Lutheran school for 2nd-4th grades. There, I met my best childhood friend Luke, whom I would later turn on and bully for the chance at feeling like I belonged…

2003-2007

Moved schools again, to a Catholic elementary school, for 5th-8th grade. I had occasional outbursts, and continued my aggro streak on a couple occasions. The honors math class was my safe haven away from everything else going on.

2007-2011

4 years of catholic high school… I hopped around friend groups, and spent a lot of time with ASB & theatre. I won “best accessorized” and “most likely to be president” superlatives.

2008

My dad died of cancer in my freshman year of high school. He was the binding force of our family, so his absence hit us hard. I’m grateful for all the childhood experiences he made possible for me, even if golf or little league baseball weren’t my thing.

2011-2016

Attended UC San Diego to study Mechanical Engineering. Unfortunately I hated it. Had lots of friend groups between the RAs, running club, Nerdfighters, the Wet n Wild Wednesday crew, and of course Claire.

2012

After questioning and exploring my gender (thanks Tumblr), determined that why I’m “like that” is because I don’t feel like a man. Came out as agender to my friends and started using they/them pronouns.

2016-2018

Attended The Ohio State University to study Higher Education and Student Affairs. Grad school was tough, but I learned a lot, really developing my perspective on social justice and systemic issues.

2018

Married Claire in San Diego, California, after 5 years together. It didn’t change much about our relationship, but was nice to have an opportunity to celebrate and ‘make it official’.

2019

Finally got my first ‘real adult job’ as an Academic Advisor for undecided students. It was a really rewarding job where I got to have meaningful conversations about students’ values and goals.

2020

Began questioning what my queerness meant to me outside of school and work, and started gender counseling to explore some Unresolved Feelings – I thought I might’ve been a trans woman, not just nonbinary.

2021

Realized that transition didn’t have to be tied to gender identity. Regardless of what label I used, I knew I wanted the changes HRT had to offer, and started the joyful, terrifying, magical journey of becoming myself.

2022

Chosen to lead the Humanitarian Engineering Scholars program at OSU, an incredible role that brought me back into the world of engineering. It’s sparked a new career interest in me, we’ll see where that goes…

2023

Dissolved my marriage with Claire. We wanted different things and had been struggling with our balance for a while. She was incredibly supportive during my transition, which I will always be grateful for.

2024 (TBD)

Moving on, might as well go big! Quit my job, went south for a while, then moved to the Netherlands!

Check Back Later

More thrilling adventures as I continue typing these out, and time continues passing, thus allowing for more milestones!