my background
Andrew
I’m a designer, founder, and educator drawn to helping people navigate meaningful transitions. Through building Mission Critical, teaching design studios, and decades of nature-based practice, I’ve learned that clarity often comes from a shift in perspective. Tending the Trail is a space where we step back, see more clearly, and explore what’s next together.
Mission
To create a space for perspective, where people can slow down, see clearly, and move forward with intention.
Vision
People living and leading from alignment, connected to purpose, community, and what’s naturally emerging.
Detail
Much of my work has grown from a simple observation: clarity often comes not from pushing harder, but from learning how to listen more carefully — to ourselves, to others, and to what’s already unfolding.
I studied environmental design at the University of Colorado Boulder, and later returned to teach studio courses in Product Design and Landscape Architecture. In those studios, my role wasn’t to provide answers, but to help students navigate uncertainty, trust their instincts, and move forward with their own ideas.
Alongside teaching, I spent years designing and building products with a strong focus on purpose and connection. I founded Mission Critical, a consumer products brand created to help dads connect more deeply with their kids. Our flagship product — a modular baby carrier designed specifically for fathers — grew from the belief that thoughtful design can shape relationships and create meaningful experiences. Through this work, I saw how even accomplished people can reach moments where the next step isn’t obvious — not because they lack direction, but because they’re standing at the edge of something new.
Over more than two decades, I’ve also been deeply engaged in nature-based learning and connection practices. These experiences shaped how I approach this work today — with patience, attention, and respect for how things naturally emerge.
Tending the Trail brings these threads together.
I don’t offer formulas or fixed answers. I walk alongside you, helping you step back, see more clearly, and move into what’s next with intention.
This is simply a space to tend the trail together.
training
My approach is also shaped by years of immersive training in nature-based leadership and regenerative design. I studied at the Regenerative Design Institute, completing programs in the Ecology of Leadership and earning a Permaculture Design Certificate. I’ve also participated in extensive mentoring and connection-based training through programs such as 8 Shields, Art of Mentoring, Native Eyes, and Designing with Natural Cycles — all centered on deep listening, awareness, and working with natural patterns.
More recently, I’ve complemented this experiential foundation with formal coaching training, including Ikigai Coach Certification and Neuroscience-based Coach Certification. Together, these experiences inform a grounded, integrative approach that blends intuitive awareness with practical insight — supporting people as they navigate transitions and step into what’s next.
