2024 Recap and More!

It's almost March can you believe it! Time flies when you are having fun. 2024 was a big year for me with many changes and life updates.

I finally got some time to think and reflect. It's been a long time since I've written. There's no better time to restart my blog than today.

Here are some of my highlights of 2024.

2024 Highlights

#1 - We got married!

This is the highlight of the year! Vero and I tied the knot in a Catholic ceremony in San Francisco, CA on October 5, 2024.

We decided to have a small wedding surrounded by friends and family in San Franciso. We held our reception at our favorite restaurant, Bombera, in Oakland.

You can see us eating a delicious fish taco prepared by Chef Dominica before we greeted everyone. Stay tuned for our Instagram Post with more photos!

Fun Fact: Vero and I met 1 block away from where we currently live in Oakland. We met when I was living in San Francisco and she lived in Berkeley.

#2 - Deepening my Faith

On Easter 2024, I was confirmed in the Catholic church. As we get older, we all find ways of coping with change, loss, and growth. A big part of my journey in 2024 was deepening my faith.

"Are you Catholic?"

As a child, I was baptized Catholic. However, I grew up attending Sunday service at Skyline Church in San Diego. I stopped attending when I got older as they became very political in a way that I didn't agree with. However, I've always been spiritual and found myself back in the church.

This could be a longer post for another day but I'm happy to say I can answer yes now to "Are you Catholic?"

#3 - Finix shipped a ton and raised a Series C

Leading our Product Management function

In October 2022, I became our Director of Product. At first, I was a bit nervous as anyone would be with a new role. Yet, I rose to the challenge and we've been shipping nonstop. These included features for our software company customers and our direct merchants.

It takes a village and many people helped me along the way including our CEO Richie, my Product team, and my colleagues on our engineering and design teams.

Making our Customers Happy and Successful

With a lot of our new functionality and hard work, we've been able to make many of our customers successful. Some of my favorite case studies include ones from our software partners Meadow and AgVend.

We also expanded to Canada and started supporting Direct Merchants which include small mom-and-pop shops and large retailers who just need an awesome payment provider.

Raising our Series C - 75M!

Through hard work and dedication, we raised a $75M Series C led by Acrew Capital and co-led by Leap Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners. You can read more about it here and on TechCrunch.

#4 - Spending more time with Family and Friends

One of my major highlights of the year was spending more time with family and friends. I have a lot to say here but that's for another day.

#5 - Picking up Music again - Bush Street

2024 had a fun new entry with the creation of a band that year.

I started relearning guitar in the beginning of 2024. I thought what better way to get better at the guitar than by jamming with friends? Eventually, that turned into our un-named band.

We had a fun and supportive group. We have Taeho as our lead guitarist and vocalist. Vincent led our drums. David was keyboard and bass. I did secondary guitar and bass.

I'll write a longer post in the future since it was a really fun chapter of 2024. I'll be forever grateful for everyone taking me under the wing as I relearned guitar.

Here's a cover of one of Break Even by the Script.

We also did a cover of Cough Syrup and many other songs.

Bush Street

We never had a formal band name but in my heart, our name will always be Bush Street.

We practiced in a music rehearsal venue on Bush Street almost weekly for two different shows we put on in the Spring and Winter.

We're taking a break now. David moved to New York and everyone's working on different individual projects. One day we'll do a reunion show!

#6 Focusing on my health

2024 was a big year for my health. I started meal prepping more and bringing lunch to work. It's also been almost more than 2 years since I've had a single soda.

Some things I started doing in 2024:

• More yoga and
• Attended a yoga camp in Portugal!
• Swimming
• Pilates
• Keeping in shape for ski season

2025 Thoughts

We're at the quarter mark (almost) of 2025 but there's already a lot that's happening. It's also a year with a lot of contradictions, plane disasters, and new challenges.

Yet, I'm passionate about the work I'm doing at Finix and very happy with my place in the world.

I'm not sure where the year is going to go but I'm excited to learn with everyone.

Some key things I'm looking forward to:

• Continuing to spend more time with friends and family
• Moving back to San Francisco with Vero (We're moving again!)
• Shipping more awesome features/products for our customers
• Getting better at guitar and now piano (Piano is new!!)
• Traveling the world but also settling down and planting deeper roots in the Bay Area
• Getting better at Soccer with friends in my local league