Is this seriously my life? A super short summary of the first 2 months of this year and how I ended up in San Francisco with Adobe.

Want to watch, rather than read? Click here to watch on Youtube.

Talk about a pinch me moment… or a pinch me month.

In the first 2 months of this year, I:

flew 45,790 mi / 73,680 km
spent 21 days traveling
watched a friend get married
marked off a huge career milestone
attended my first creators conference
visited my hometown

I don’t want to see an airport again for a while, but I’m still in disbelief at everything that’s happened in the past 2 months.

Here’s a little recap…

Euro Trip

In January, my partner and I flew to Belgium to celebrate a friend’s wedding. We met her in France while my partner attended grad school, and she’s one of those people that has become a lifelong friend.

We were fortunate to spend 9 days in Europe, attending her wedding, catching up with friends and stopping in Madrid for a night.

Photoshop Mobile Summit

Photo by Cole Keister

Right before we left for Belgium, I got a mysterious email.

Well, it wasn’t mysterious but I definitely thought it was spam. It hit my inbox in the evening while I was stress-packing for Belgium, and I brushed it off because I was too delirious and frazzled to think straight. The next day, I opened my email again and showed it to my partner.

“Do you think this is real?”

I’d read the email a few times, checking the sender address, trying to figure out if it was spam.

But sure enough, I had an email from the Adobe Photoshop team asking me if I wanted to come to San Francisco for their Photoshop Mobile Summit at the end of the month.

I wasn’t sure if I could make it because I already had another trip planned for the end of the month. So when I looked at my calendar and saw that it fit perfectly in between my 2 trips, I knew I had to say yes.

Just a week after getting home from Belgium, I hopped on a plane (and another plane) to San Francisco.

Over the next few days, I got to meet some seriously talented creators, some that I’ve admired for years and some that I just learned about.

We ate delicious food, got to use the app and provide feedback, and just had an overall fantastic time together.

It honestly felt more like a sleepover and hangout full of creatives more than it felt like a work trip.

UGC Foundations

Photos by Mily Ward

But before I knew it, it was time to fly back home and jump on another flight to Phoenix.

Looking back, I should have just flown straight to Phoenix from San Francisco, but you live and you learn. I was home for 1 day… long enough to wash some clothes and re-pack my bags before heading to Arizona for UGC Foundations.

UGC Foundations is an event hosted by Tran for UGC creators. UGC means user-generated content and it’s basically influencer-style photos and videos that are made directly for brands. So, no need to build a following or become an influencer.

I’ve been creating UGC for a few years, but really dove into the field in March 2024 when I took a crash-course with Tran.

So, when she announced this event, I knew I had to go.

I spent 2 days in Phoenix getting to meet other creators and participating in the event. With over 130 people there though, I wish it had been just a day longer so I could get to meet and chat with everyone.

One… Last… Trip

After all this, I still had one more trip back home to OKC.

I spent a week with my mom before flying back to Puerto Rico. She flew with me to PR and I got to spend the next 5 days showing her around the island. From hiking in El Yunque to exploring Old San Juan, we had a packed week full of adventure.

But, I didn’t just have a packed week, I had a packed month.

It’s taken awhile for me to edit this video and truly reflect on this experience. It’s something that I’ll never forget and feel so incredibly grateful for.

I’ve been taking photos since I got my first camera in 2011 and making videos since 2016. In the last 10-15 years, I never could have imagined that this is where I would end up.

This was such a special month that I’ll never forget and hopefully a sign for a fantastic year to come.

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