Celebrating Six Years!

Six years!
Six years ago I had just moved back to Chicago from Guatemala during the early stages of the pandemic.

I had to begin again. Restart my life in the US after living abroad in three countries over the span of five years.

I had my fill of adventure and wanderlust, and it was time to settle down and find a job.

But what I couldn’t fathom was going back to an office culture.
The 9-5 grind never worked for me, which is why I left the US to begin with.

And then, as it so often happens, one thing led to another.
I sent a grant opportunity to my former boss in Guatemala, and he asked if I would work on it for him.

And the idea for Hilo Consulting was born.

Hilo, Spanish for thread, is a metaphor about connecting resources and need.

Six years later, I can proudly say that I have accomplished my goal in Hilo’s first iteration.

As I wind down my grants business and ramp up AI consulting, the idea of connecting resources and need continues to be a through line in all that I do.

Right now, that looks like helping nonprofits and foundations use AI responsibly, creating efficiencies to (ideally) help move and deploy money faster.

And while I grow this new line of business, I am simultaneously building towards a new future in which technology can be used to deploy resources, at scale, to those in need.

As I am constantly looking ahead because there is so much more on the horizon, today I take a moment to celebrate six years of Hilo Consulting.

Cheers! 🥂 🎊 🎉