The image on our homepage is deeply personal. It shows a small, vulnerable girl in winter on the banks of the Green River. My first memory of my sister Melody is of her standing on the ice at the river’s edge as the current flowed indifferently past. She was tiny, but boldly defiant, facing the cold without flinching. That memory has stayed with me all my life. It shows her fearlessness, but she did not live on the precipice because she was overly disobedient or reckless. That fate was thrust upon her innocence, stealing from her a life that should have been bright and sunlit, replacing it instead with dark clouds that enshrouded her relatively short life.

On the surface, Mophead might seem like an unusual name for a company built on precision, exceptional service, and a commitment to raising digital tools for child welfare to a world-class standard. For me, it is a name rooted in resilience, love, and a promise.

Like all of us, I have a story. Mine begins in a dusty trailer park in Green River, Utah, as the child of a charismatic river guide known as Moki Mac and a free-spirited flower child of the 60s. When I was five, mental illness took our mother from us. She spent the rest of her life in the care of Utah State Hospital. My three siblings and I, the youngest of a scrappy bunch, entered the foster care system.

After a few placements, we landed in Salt Lake City with a family who knew our father and promised to care for us. For that, I am grateful. They took us from poverty and the uncertainty of the foster care system, but it was a bittersweet turn of fate. The household was already raising six children of their own, and the weight of adding four more was immense. What seemed like a chance for stability came at a very dark price. Abuse in many forms was present, and the damage was done. Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse left us feeling as though we were less than human.

Those years were marked more by hardship than joy. Melody often bore the brunt of our foster mother’s sharpest words: “Your head looks like a mop! Do something with it!” It hurt to hear, but my brothers and I decided to reclaim it. We turned the insult into a badge of love, calling her “Mophead” with affection and pride.

Melody carried that nickname for the rest of her life. She also carried the deep scars from our shared childhood — scars that eventually led her to take her own life in a homeless shelter in Seattle.

Mophead Media is my tribute to her and my stand against the cycle of abuse that shaped our lives. After 17 years with the Utah Department of Human Services, building tools to support foster youth, abuse prevention programs, and victims’ services, I stepped away. Since leaving the state eight years ago, I have sharpened my marketing skills by helping law firms and service-based businesses grow and thrive. But it is time to return to my true “Why” — the purpose that has guided my life from the very beginning.

Today, Mophead Media exists to bring world-class digital strategy, design, and storytelling to organizations fighting for children’s safety and dignity. If my work can help reduce the suffering my sister and I endured, even for one child, then every project is worth it.

If your mission is to protect the vulnerable, prevent abuse, and give every child the chance to thrive, I would love to talk with you. My story fuels my purpose, and my purpose is to help you succeed.