About

I'm Aly and I Love Making Maps

I have spent my entire professional career—a decade and a half—contributing to the geospatial fields of cartography, GIS, and participatory mapping. Within each, I have focused intimately on helping develop and give back to these communities, engaging well beyond the scope of my full-time positions to advance and grow the disciplines and support my colleagues. At my core, I am an advocate who thrives on combining creativity and problem solving. 

Having run my own business for almost a decade and a half, I am a proven professional interacting and coordinating with clients, managing complex projects, acquiring, processing, and managing unique datasets, developing realistic estimates, and juggling and prioritizing a wide-range of fast-moving projects. In 2023, I hired my first permanent contractor to work with me, allowing me to delegate more and focus on pursing new opportunities. At National Geographic, I served as an informal leader of my team, advocating for changes that improved team and company dynamics. I have also mentored over 50 young geospatial professionals since 2017.

As a cartographer, I am creative and exceptionally detail-oriented; as a participatory mapping facilitator, I am an active listener and competent moderator and negotiator; as a GIS analyst, I am flexible and always discovering new approaches to problems; and as a life-long Girl Scout and Leader, I was raised to take risks, share openly, always seek improvement, and develop and maintain positive relationships.

Where and Who I Call Home

I currently live in Colorado and enjoy quality time with my husband, daughter, and dog, juggling library story times, dance and gymnastics classes, and museum explorations. We split our vacation time between visiting my family in Vermont and my husband's in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and are raising our daughter to appreciate both snowy mountains and turquoise seas. 

Work-life balance is incredibly important to me. As an employee, I am driven, adaptable, detail-oriented, and a team player. As a mom, I have perfected skills in multitasking, time management, prioritization, and planning. I am always eager to learn new skills and appreciate opportunities to grow.