Get to know the people that know us best

Rachael and I met at our first big kid therapist job in March of 2020. You can imagine how quickly we bonded as the world shut down. We’ve worked 3 jobs total together over the years, 2 of which Rachael has been my boss for. She’s the owner at my current job, Empower and Elevate.
Rachael used to be a pro athlete, loves a quality coffee, and we've thrived in our love of authenticity. I have a tattoo for her that’s a toaster and a separate tattoo for her son (my nephew).

I first met Yousuf over a Zoom call during a job interview that eventually got me to Texas.
He made a joke once before I met Julie that I’ll move to Texas, find a nice Texas girl, settle down, and buy a house.
Yousuf is the dad to our Ring Bearer!

I finally got a sister when Carla joined the family! One of the reasons I moved back to Houston in 2019 was learning I was going to be an aunt. Carla is definitely the cooler older sister I always wanted.
Carla has a love of history and learning that I respect. She’s always down for the beach, good food, and quality time with her people. Carla is mom to our Flower Girl!

Shayne and I have been best friends since high school. We met at the Cleveland Early College High School and have shared many life experiences with each other.
Fun fact: Shayne was a helicopter mechanic in the Army.

I met Javier through mutual friends in college my senior year at UNT. We have two matching tattoos. I value that Javier is open minded, chill, and goofy! He was the first friend to meet Michael when we went on a double date.
Javier is a lover of reading and knowledge, constantly making pun jokes, and super diverse taste in music.

Ashley and I met freshman year of college, first semester, in a history class at UNT. We both know we only talked to each other because our extroverted friend introduced us. We decided to have lunch after class and kept scheduling lunches throughout our college years.
We’ve always said we love our similarities and our differences. We both grew up in private school and the church along with having an older brother. My favorite difference is how blunt I am and how shy Ashely can be.
Ashley is a lover of queso and margs, traveling internationally, my favorite bookworm, and hockey enthusiast.

Richard and I have been best friends since meeting at Cleveland Early College High School, we also worked at Officemax together.
Fun fact: Richard introduced me to Bon Iver and similar genre’s of music.

We met in 2015 at UNT in a Human Development class. I was bold enough to ask Emily if we had another class together and hoped she'd remembered me. Thankfully she did and our friendship grew from there!
We were on the same path for a career and she was a year ahead of me. We had odd similarities with life events of starting our masters and going through breakups. Emily even took over the lease of my old apartment unit during her master’s program.
Emily is super kindhearted, we share similar taste in music, a lover of cats, and my sweet treat companion.

Charlie and I met at work at Macquarie. Charlie has become an important friend of ours and we consider it a privilege to know him.
Fun fact: Charlie is a massive anime fan, frequently wears a bucket hat, and is always down for chocolate.

Flower Girl & Ring Bearer

Fun fact: They were both born in 2020,

Eva in February and Nolan in December.