Choice Rehab was my first post-college leadership role—and an unexpected crash course in cross-functional coordination, communication under pressure, and operational resilience. As Director of Rehabilitation in a skilled nursing facility, I met daily with the administrator, director of nursing, housekeeping, and kitchen heads to align on patient care, discharge timelines, and interdisciplinary needs. These meetings sharpened my ability to quickly translate patient outcomes into actionable decisions across departments with vastly different goals.

I coordinated staff schedules across three separate locations while also adapting in real time to unpredictable changes in patient load, compliance demands, and resource availability. This required not only strong planning but also constant responsiveness—skills that mirror agile product environments.

Beyond logistics, this experience taught me just as much about what kind of systems don’t work: poor communication loops, misaligned incentives, and reactive cultures. It was during this time that I developed a deep appreciation for thoughtful systems design, user-centered thinking, and the importance of aligning internal teams around a shared vision—principles I now bring to every product I build.