About Me

Profile

About: Born and raised just a few hours away in College Station, TX, I left Aggieland to attend the University of Texas at Austin. I love skydiving, roller coasters, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Amy Poehler, bell peppers (only red and green, not orange or yellow), Disney princesses, and exotic pets. I have also loved music since the first moment I touched a piano at age 4, and I'm on a mission to find the best bowl of queso in the entire city of Austin before I graduate.

At UT, I am a Business Honors, Finance, Economics major with a minor in Math. Besides Texas 4000, I am involved in the Undergraduate Business Council, Texas Blazers, the Honors Business Association, and the Management Consulting Association. I also work for the Office of Admissions giving tours to prospective UT freshmen. After freshman year, I had the time of his life studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina as a part of the BHP Short-Term International Program. This Summer I will be working in Management Consulting at the Boston Consulting Group, and I hope to return to Management Consulting after graduation.

Why I Ride

First, I ride for my grandmother, I ride for my father, I ride for my sister, and I ride for myself. A little background information on my family; my paternal grandmother had melanoma before I was born. Thankfully she survived, and she’s still alive and about as healthy as I am; however, it means my father, my sister, and I are all at an increased risk of developing the disease at some point. My sister and I are also both gingers with extremely fair skin. So in short we might as well be holding up welcome signs for any melanoma out there looking for a home. Since before I could remember, we have been visiting dermatologists twice a year to get a full body check for moles that look risky, a process which has left both of us with scars on our backs from moles that had to be removed because they looked abnormal. Sometimes everything is fine, and sometimes we get a call that the mole had atypical cells, and we need to come back in for further examination. Is everything usually ok? Yes. That doesn’t make it any less scary when a dermatologist says they need to take another look at my back, or even worse my sister’s. My sister and I are lucky that our parents taught us to expect the probability of skin cancer and be proactive about it, and if we ever have to hear the words melanoma leave our doctor’s mouth we’ll catch it early and give ourselves the best chance of being ok. However, it still scares me every time someone in my family goes to the dermatologist.

Second, I ride for all of the incredible adults and friends who helped raise me, who shaped my life, and who I'm incredibly lucky to know today because they survived cancer, or because they continue to fight. Jean Bingaman, Ross Bingaman, Gwen Reed, Ma, Pa, Tom Davis, Keith Beyer, Lauren Carstens, Grampy, and anyone else I forgot, I ride for all of you.

Finally, I ride for everyone in my family that I never had the opportunity to know, but had a profound effect on my parents, grandparents, and anyone else I love.

I ride for everyone I know who has fought this disease and come out victorious, and those who have lost their life. I ride for my grandmother because she inspires me to be proactive, because if she hadn’t been I may not have met her and known how beautiful and strong she is. I ride for my family because I need them constantly beside me. And finally, I ride for myself, because I know I have an extremely high chance of having melanoma one day, but I won’t let it get the best of me, surprise me, or stop me when it comes.