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Our panelists are Kyle Brown, Katie Carl, Lynzi Clyde, Ryan Ixtlahuac, and Kyle Jepson. Each has come to Boston to build a career and a life. They'll talk about housing, schooling, careers, childrearing, surprises, setbacks, culture, history, and the memories of Boston that they'll have forever. Stephen Patterson, a newcomer to Boston four years ago, will be our moderator.
“You’re really good at making things out of duct tape, Kyle,” said my friend’s dad when I was about 13. ” You should become a mechanical engineer.” So I went to BYU and majored in Mechanical Engineering, while competing as a pole vaulter for the Track and Field team. Having discovered that robots are even more interesting than duct tape, I shipped off to Stanford University immediately after graduating from BYU. I joined the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory, studied Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, and earned a PhD.
Now I work as a Senior Software Engineer at Berkshire Grey—I write code that makes robots do really cool stuff. That’s what brought me—and my little family of four (now five!)—to Boston almost a year ago.
My wife, Arianne, is a stay-at-home mom to our three kids (age 5, 2, and newborn). Arianne has a masters degree (from BYU—that’s where we met) in piano performance. She also sang in BYU’s elite chamber choir, the BYU Singers. She is frequently called upon to perform in Church and community events, and she also finds time to teach online piano lessons in the evenings.
We love life in the Boston area. Some highlights include: exploring American history sites; attending the Patriot’s day re-enactments; picking apples at Honeypot Hill; touring maple barns; road tripping to Plymouth and to Washington D.C.; visiting the Museum of Science. My LinkedIn profile is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylejbrown17.
Lynzi Clyde
Why I Stay
Lynzi is a podcaster, group fitness instructor, business strategist, mom of four, and a Ben and Jerry's enthusiast. She found her love for all of these things while living in Boston for seven years. She claims Boston as her home and praises her time there as a period of unparalleled growth for her and her family. You can find her podcast at https://anchor.fm/whyistaypodcast.
Lynzi wants you to know: We came to Boston and miraculously found housing after searching for about eight hours a day for about a month. I was pregnant and had a 18-month-old at the time. I was called to be the Primary president (leader of the children in our congregation or "ward") when I was 23 and I loved it even though it was the most demanding calling I've ever had and in such a transient ward. We loved our transient ward. We lived near the YMCA and I found a community unlike anything I've ever experienced. I was able to get a group fitness certification and teach there, it was so rewarding and life-changing for me. I felt called to start a self-love podcast, finished that after a year, and started another podcast called "Why I Stay" (about why church members choose to stay in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Because I was living in Boston, I had the support and the connections I needed to get into the business aspect of podcasting. We loved adventuring and going to all of the free events. We made life-long friends who feel more like family. We learned so much about listening to others who are different from us, and how to talk about our beliefs in a non threatening way. Loved it. Hardest, most exciting and fun experience we've ever had. I miss it all the time. Currently we are living in Utah for a job.
Kathlyn Carl
Katie has taught high school English for 15 years in Oregon, North Carolina, Alaska, and now Massachusetts. Knowing that Massachusetts is a state that values education, she moved to Boston in 2014 in order to grow and develop as an educator. Her experiences and friendships in Boston have inspired her in her personal, spiritual, and professional life. She met her husband Joe in Boston; they have two children.
Ryan Ixtlahuac
DHL Express
Ryan matriculated at Harvard College as a freshman in 2016, and, having served a mission, having taken classes online due to the pandemic, and having gotten married in August 2021, graduated Harvard with a concentration in History of Science and a secondary in Economics in May 2022. Some of his favorite activities during school included playing drums with a creative percussion group, participating in club running and soccer, and beginning to learn how to read and speak Nahuatl. During the pandemic, he became interested in supply chain and logistics as he heard the words "supply chain" repeated so often in the news. His interest has led him to work in humanitarian aid procurement, small retail supply chains, and his current experience with DHL Express. At the end of August, both Ryan and his wife Inaê will move to Utah where she will finish her studies at BYU and he will work for a commercial train manufacturer.
Kyle Jepson
HubSpot
Kyle teaches free online courses at HubSpot Academy. He has created certification courses on inbound sales, sales enablement, sales management, and HubSpot’s sales software. His videos have garnered a combined two million views in the past twelve months alone. He is a husband, father, and aspiring paperback novelist. Follow him on LinkedIn at /in/kyleanthonyjepson/ .
Stephen works on the Business Development team at Curebase - a company that runs clinical trials. Before working at Curebase, he worked in Operations at Amgen doing lifecycle management and product development for one of its largest oncology products. While working at Amgen he completed a master's degree at Johns Hopkins in biotech business.