My Career Journey in ABA: From Entry-Level to BCBA & Founder

When I accepted my first part-time job in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), I had never met a person diagnosed with autism. At the time, autism wasn’t a widely known or widely understood label. I had graduated college with a degree—but no clear direction.
I didn’t have a five-year plan—I just knew I wanted to do something real. Something that mattered.

Before officially accepting the job, I asked if I could observe a session. They said yes.

What I witnessed that day changed the course of my life.

The instructor was using a heart-shaped box of Valentine’s chocolates to play a numbers game with a young learner. I was struck by the creativity—how something so simple could become a powerful tool for connection and growth. But even more than the teaching method, I was drawn to the learners themselves. Two boys—so different from one another, yet both deeply compelling.

One was bright, witty, and endlessly curious. He spoke fluently, asked thoughtful questions, and had a mind that moved quickly. He also needed a lot of movement and frequent breaks to stay engaged, and he benefited from individualized strategies to support peer connection and classroom participation.

The other boy expressed himself in very different ways. He wasn’t yet speaking, and much of his day was filled with soft vocalizations, hand flapping, body rocking, and joyful laughter to himself. He seemed deeply immersed in his own inner world—as if there was a whole universe unfolding inside him that others couldn’t yet access or understand. His teachers were loving and committed, but they were unsure how to support him in a way that matched his unique needs. And that made sense—his needs were beyond their training.

I didn’t know what the answers were, but I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to try. I wanted to connect. And I wanted to understand.

That was the moment everything shifted.

I returned to school to pursue my master’s in Special Education, and a few years later, I became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). That’s when I was introduced to Verbal Behavior—a framework centered around helping individuals ask for what they want and need. It resonated with me on every level. So many of the “challenging behaviors” we saw were rooted in frustration—because our learners couldn’t express themselves.

At the heart of ABA is one powerful truth: behavior is communication. And when you help someone express themselves, you’re not just teaching—you’re changing lives.

At the time, I was working full-time at a school during the day—and in the evenings, I took on a second job with an in-home ABA agency, building programs for learners and their families. I saw firsthand the impact of bringing therapy into homes, where children could learn in familiar, nurturing spaces. It was long hours. It was humbling. And I loved it.

Not long after, I approached my boss at my first ABA job and asked if she’d consider making me a full-time team member—something rare at the time. She said she would—if I was willing to take on a challenge: to build a Verbal Behavior program from the ground up. No one at the organization knew how to do it yet, but she was willing to invest in me.

She offered to send me to train with leaders in the field: Dr. Vincent Carbone, Dr. Mark Sundberg, and Dr. James Partington. When I returned, I’d be responsible for writing the manual and training the rest of the team.

I was scared and excited all at once. I said yes.

Looking back, I had no idea what I was signing up for. But I said yes anyway—and that yes changed everything.

It was the biggest leap of faith I had ever taken. I had never built a program, never written a manual, never trained a clinical team—but I poured myself into it. Every time a parent asked a question, I spent hours researching to make sure I was giving the best possible answer. We had consultants fly in from other cities to observe our sessions, our learners, and our systems—often offering tough feedback and asking us to rework what we thought we had figured out.

It was hard. One of the hardest things I had ever done.

And it was also one of the most meaningful.

To witness a learner discover how to express themselves—to ask for what they want, to connect with someone they love, to feel heard—was everything. Whether through pictures, sounds, signs, words, or devices, the method never mattered as much as the outcome: communication that was purposeful, respectful, and deeply human.

To see a parent’s eyes fill with tears because they could finally understand their child’s needs… there’s nothing more powerful than that.

Years later, when my family relocated from the East Coast to California, I looked around and realized that there weren’t many companies using Verbal Behavior at the time. I knew what I had to do. What I had done for my former team, I would now do for others on the West Coast.

That’s how Love 2 Learn was born.

What started as a part-time job became a lifelong calling. And today, as the founder and CEO, I still carry the spark that was lit all those years ago. Our company was built for people like the learners who first inspired me—and for the professionals who are brave enough to say yes to something new.

So if you’re figuring out what’s next, if you’re craving something real, if you care deeply and don’t want to play small—I see you.
I was you.
And this work just might change your life, too.