Background

       My path to Unscripted wasn't linear — and that's exactly the point. It began in language: a BA in English Literature and Linguistics from UC Santa Barbara, an MA in Applied Linguistics, and a TESL certificate from California State University, Long Beach led me to teach and design curriculum in Japan and as well as for international learners at Southern California community colleges and UC Irvine - work that was never just about grammar, but about building the support systems that let students thrive far from home. 

When the 2008 recession reshaped education, I moved more fully into administrative work, serving as Senior Academic Advisor at the Kuwait Embassy in Los Angeles from 2009 to 2016, where I independently managed a caseload of more than 200 students and hundreds of thousands of dollars in accounts - the connective tissue between government officials, universities, and families. Conversation was at the core of that work – knowing when to listen, when to ask, and when to simply help someone feel less alone in an unfamiliar process. That same instinct for finding the story inside a system later carried me to SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, documenting the institution's history and preserving the stories of the people who created its legacy while welcoming the next generation of employees.

For seven years, I worked as a freelancer, building content strategies, sharpening professional communication, and experimenting with AI-enabled tools – a sign that the humanist and the technologist in me were continuing to work side by side. That collaboration came into full focus in 2023, when I trained a large language model as a data labeling analyst on a major AI project. It turns out that studying syntax and semantics is exactly the preparation an AI needs to replicate human ability.

Before any of the degrees or job titles, there are roots: family lines through the British Isles with a clear Dutch contribution. My parents' families hail from Massachusetts, Michigan, Georgia, Oregon, and California, full of artists and engineers -  an opera-singing grandmother, an artist mother, a grandfather who piloted Navy blimps and another who installed radar systems in submarines for Raytheon, a father who served in the Navy and spent his career in telecommunications. I didn't arrive at the intersection of communication, technology, and human story by accident - I was raised inside it. I've drawn more from the wisdom carried across those generations than any curriculum - a belief that creativity and precision aren’t opposites, that service is a form of love, and that the stories people carry deserve to be heard.

Today, I work in IT project coordination in the med-tech research space, acting as the liaison between complex enterprise systems and the researchers who rely on them. Whatever the title - teacher, advisor, AI trainer, systems coordinator - the throughline has never changed: I find meaning in using structures and systems to give people what they need to thrive in ways that are authentically their own. Unscripted is that same instinct applied to conversation and content – designed to help people move forward with intention. 

Mission

Unscripted exists because a lot of content doesn't trust its audience — it flattens complexity into flash takes and mistakes performance for honesty. This space was built to do the opposite: to have real conversations with real people; Unscripted is not just a collection of published interviews - each one is treated as a data point in a larger picture of how we navigate work, life, and change across a rapidly shifting world. What I'm most committed to is respecting human stories. That means giving interviewees room to be contradictory, uncertain, and unpolished  because that's where the honest material lives. And it means giving you, the audience, practical takeaways rather than inspiration that evaporates by Tuesday. 

The Life Capsule learning experiences behind Unscripted - digital collections themed as journeys by sea and by air - are data-informed insights and AI-enabled tools that help you make more intentional decisions about your own work and life.

If you value candid conversation, evidence-informed perspective, and content that holds up when you actually try to apply it, you'll feel at home here.

Contact

Unscripted lives across platforms - follow along today on Instagram and YouTube at @unscriptedbyv for interviews, Life Capsules, and periodic deep dives on what's happening across planet Earth and what it means for you. You can also reach out directly at contact@unscriptedbyv.com. Whether you're a potential interview subject, a researcher, a collaborator, or simply someone who found their way here through a shared interest in unscripted storytelling - we want to hear from you. Some of the best conversations - on and off camera - start with someone deciding it is worth reaching out.

^{Interviews and content are provided for informational purposes; see our Disclaimer.}