I've spent my life at the meeting point of craft, engineering, and service — and the path there was anything but a straight line.
I grew up in Portugal, where I learned to work on cars alongside my uncles. That was my first education: hands dirty, learning how things actually go together, and finding out I loved the satisfaction of making something work. At eighteen I joined the Marines, serving as a ground support equipment mechanic. The Marines gave me the rest of my foundation — discipline, the ability to lead under pressure, and an understanding of what it takes to keep complex operations running when the stakes are real.
After the Marines, I found my way into hospitality, working front-of-house in New York restaurants and design-focused hotels. I expected it to be a stopgap. Instead, I fell in love with the work of taking care of people — the craft of service, the attention to detail, and the way a well-run space can shape someone's entire experience. Those years taught me how the things we build are ultimately meant to be lived in.
Then came Brooklyn Coachworks, which felt like everything coming together. I started as a mechanic building bespoke Land Rover Defenders, became the shop's painter, and eventually grew into an Account Executive and Project Manager — managing client builds from first conversation through final delivery. It was the rare place where engineering precision, hands-on craft, and client relationships all lived in the same job. We delivered fully reimagined Defenders where every detail was a deliberate choice, and I loved every part of it.
Wanting to deepen the technical side of my work, I earned my Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, with a minor in Management. Today I work in construction project management in New York, currently managing projects across the Rockefeller Center campus — coordinating trades, schedules, budgets, and client relationships on fast-moving work in one of the city's most demanding environments.
What ties all of it together is a belief that the best work happens where precision meets craft, and where what gets built is always, in the end, meant to serve the people who use it.