Life is a beautiful journey
I’m grateful you’re here, and I’d love to share my journey with you.
From my early days in a small town in South Carolina to the thrilling world of competitive swimming, coaching, and now designing homes, my path has been filled with passion, growth, and life-changing experiences.
Most recently, in the midst of grief, I began a journey of healing and fulfillment, transforming my outlook on life, wellness, and balance along the way.
If you’ve faced loss or are navigating your own path to peace and purpose, I welcome you here and hope you find support, solidarity, and inspiration in my story and ongoing journey.
Just Keep Swimming
I grew up in the small town of Pendleton, SC. Around the age of 9, I started swimming competitively, and while I dabbled in other sports, swimming was my true love.
I went on to swim at Duke University, and after graduating, I moved to Knoxville, TN, to continue swimming and pursue a Master’s in Sport Psychology. With my whole family there to support me, I became a “swammer” in Omaha, NE, at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
From there, I moved to Southern California to kickstart my coaching career. I served as the Head Coach of Conejo Simi Swim Club from 2010 to 2015, which I still consider the most magical time of my life in terms of freedom, personal growth, and professional development.
In 2015, I took on the role of Associate Head Women’s Coach at Auburn University. While I will always be a Duke fan, there’s nothing quite like the spirit of Auburn and an SEC football game.
I had the privilege of working with an athlete at Auburn who qualified for the 2016 Olympics. We traveled to Rio together, and the following summer, we went to Spain and Hungary for the World Championships. I have countless incredible memories from my swimming career, but my most cherished gifts are the lasting friendships I formed with the parents, athletes, and coaches I met throughout my 25 years in the sport.
From Coaching to Creating
Mim and I met a year after moving to Auburn, and I “retired” from coaching after our wedding in May 2018. Later that year, we became pregnant with Margo and embarked on the long, ill-timed (though we didn’t know it at the time) process of building our forever home in Heflin. Margo was born in August 2019, and we broke ground on our home shortly after COVID hit in 2020.
I started an Instagram account to document our build, quickly discovering my passion for helping others navigate their own building journeys. I felt confident that I could turn this into a business, but not long after we broke ground, we found out that Mac would be joining us in July 2021! The idea of having two kids under the age of two was both exciting and overwhelming, so I decided to focus on finishing our home and caring for Margo and Mac (with lots of help, of course). The timing just wasn’t right for launching a design business.
Finally, we moved into our house in February 2022. I turned 40 that March, and Mim gifted me Modern by Miles, LLC.
Fit, Focused, and Fearless
By the end of 2022, I had built my own website, featuring a few hand sketches and some before-and-after shots from a rental house we’d flipped in 2019. My first new construction clients found me when a friend tagged me in a Facebook comment, and from there, things began to take off. I completed a kitchen renovation for a young family and designed several rooms for other clients. But I could never have predicted what would unfold in the first half of 2023.
As I shared more progress photos and showed up more consistently on social media, my work started gaining traction. Every month from January through June, I booked a new construction client—including one commercial project. I even brought on a friend from Instagram to the team, and together, we launched a Building Handbook to help people with their builds nationwide.
I hired my very first new construction client, Cindy, part-time to help with local jobs, and soon found myself working nonstop, with my head buried in my phone most days. I was on a schedule from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., then at the gym from 5 to 6:30 a.m. most mornings. I thought I was on top of the world—my design business was thriving, and I felt fit and focused.
In the midst of all the success
It became harder to prioritize my marriage, my kids, Margo and Mac, and even myself.
Then, in July 2023, we found out we were expecting again—a complete surprise, certainly not in the plan. It felt like a brand-new chapter for me, my marriage, and my family.
Just as things seemed to be falling perfectly into place, life threw us a curveball, one that shifted my perspective in profound ways.
I'm excited to share more of this story, step by step. Join me on the blog, where I'll dive deeper into my journey through grief and rediscovery—hoping to inspire balance, resilience, and purpose along the way.
