We first met at an industry networking event in February 2017. Bianca was living in Milwaukee and happened to be in town for work. As networking events go, there wasn’t much time to focus on one person, but Jon knew he wanted to see her again if she returned to DC. We ran into each other at a few more events over the years, but the timing never seemed right—Bianca still stayed on Jon’s radar. A few years later, during COVID, we reconnected on social media. Bianca was now a new mom living in DC; her hotel hosted one of our industry’s top award ceremonies, and when Jon arrived she was the first person he saw at the registration table. He felt in that moment it wasn’t an accident. We talked off and on throughout the event, often ignoring everyone else in the room. From there we kept in regular contact while Bianca focused on work and motherhood. We became friends, and Jon convinced Bianca to join him at Caesars so she could work from home and spend more time with Gabriel. What started as friendship quickly deepened once we began working together—a bit of a human resources headache, perhaps—but that’s where our story really began.