Welcome! I am a military veteran, pilot, filmmaker, mountaineer, motivational speaker, and most important, I am in love with life. I embrace life to the fullest by filling my days with passions that lift my spirits and fuel my desire for adventure and new challenges.

The mindset of “why not” has led me to running 12 marathons, graduating from the United States Air Force Academy, climbing Mount Denali, completing Ironman 70.3, flying and commanding missions on a KC-135 (Boeing 707), leading a refuge camp, completing 13 years in the active duty Air Force, purchasing and living in a camper van, and now starting a speaking career. I love life!

I was born under the Soviet Union in Lithuania in 1988 and immigrated to United States for better opportunities with my mother when I was just eleven years old. I enlisted in the Air Force at eighteen years old and started my career as a military dinning facility cook. I then was nominated to attend the Air Force Academy and selected for pilot training after commissioning as an officer. From immigrant to cook to pilot! Phew what a ride, but that’s just the start.

In college I was physically active and took up marathon running, snowboarding, and rock climbing, which then led to mountaineering in my adult life. Mountaineering has allowed me to combine my strengths of endurance, grit, leadership, and risk awareness. While climbing mountains around the world to include Mont Blanc in France and Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, I filmed adventure documentaries and captured those experiences. Filmmaking has seeped into my passion for outdoors and has become a tool to educate and encourage folks to get outside. I went on to receive Masters In Motion Pictures and Television with a focus of editing and filmmaking has been my artistic outlet that I very much enjoy.

Having a wide rang of hobbies has made me stronger in my professional life as an Air Force Major and as an aviator. The outdoors has helped me achieve a healthy work-life balance, so I encourage my airmen to do the same and to embrace their own outlets for their well-being. Many aspects of mountaineering are also critical in aviation. In both fields, leadership, risk management, and crew resource management play vital roles. The parallels between leading a team in the cockpit and guiding a rope team across a glacier are striking, as both require effective coordination, decision-making, and teamwork.

I inherited a strong work ethic from my mother, an adventurous spirit from my father, and a respect for calculated risk-taking from my stepfather. My diverse upbringing and exposure to different cultures worldwide have shaped a unique mindset, allowing me to see life from a different perspective. I feel truly empowered by the endless opportunities America has offered me, and I’m motivated to live life to the fullest. My drive and sense of adventure stem from a positive outlook on the world as a beautiful place, where passions should be pursued now, not saved for later. So, go get after it!