As a neurodivergent girl, living in a neurotypical world (Hey Journey, I see you), I have no reservations in admitting that having ADHD can be a challenge. HOWEVER, it does NOT always have to be this way. How you ask? Well, you have to understand your unique brain chemistry. In other words what are the instructions and/or steps required to make your brain operate at its fullest potential?

 

This curiosity of always questioning the “hows” and the “whys” of the world is inherent to my personality and was a huge asset when I received my ADHD diagnosis at seventeen. Having a “label” and learning about the diagnostic features helped me further unpack the unique “instructions” my brain needed in order to succeed. Through hyperfocused investigation as well as trial and error (Hello ADHD resilience), I began to learn what ADHD looks like for me and this is exactly what I help other high achieving ADHDers do too.

 

Harnessing and leveraging my ADHD was and still is empowering. It has helped me excel in both athletics and academics. Growing up I was a nationally ranked gymnast and secured a full scholarship to a division 1 college. My gymnastics career unfortunately ended prematurely due to an injury, but my ADHD resilience and my love for knowledge helped me pivot and thrive in college and beyond. I graduated summa cum laude, earned a Master’s in psychology and then a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology. By the way we can thank my ADHD impulsivity for doing the PhD... someone said I'd be good at it and so I said okay, I'll do it.

 

Pursuing my Ph.D. has afforded me didactic knowledge and applied research experience on a breadth of brain related concepts, such as attention, memory, decision making, use of language, and communication. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to teach courses in psychology at the State University of New York at Albany to bring these concepts to life for my students.

 

My Ph.D. journey not only enlightened me intellectually, but also personally. Despite experiencing many successes this career was coming at a high emotional cost. Deep down I knew I was not satisfied... The constraints of academia were not a box that this creative and hyperindependent (Don’t tell me what to do), ADHDer could fit in. Instead of fighting my intuition, I leaned into it.

 

Using coaching strategies and interventions to examine my OWN life, I concluded that I did not just want to discover knowledge about the brain in general, I wanted to be able to directly apply that knowledge by working with brains like ours. 

 

... and with that Neural Revolution was born