Two Different Paths. One Shared Purpose. And Quite a Story Along the Way.
We met reviewing domestic violence homicides.
Not exactly the beginning you'd expect for a husband-and-wife team. But that's our story. And in a way, it says quite a bit about how Building Blue came to be.
Long before we met, we were both working in different parts of systems that often encountered the same people, families, and challenges.
For Dan, that meant a career in law enforcement. Years spent responding to domestic violence, investigating crimes, and making decisions in situations where the stakes were high and the information was rarely complete. Over time, he became increasingly interested in something that isn't always obvious in the middle of a difficult encounter: how much our understanding of human behavior influences what happens next.
Jen's experience took her through child protection, probation and parole, Tribal communities, Indigenous advocacy, and cultural education. She saw many of the same challenges from entirely different perspectives—and witnessed how a person's experience with one system could be profoundly different from their experience with another.
Different careers. Different vantage points. But a growing recognition that understanding people requires more than seeing what's directly in front of us.
Our paths eventually crossed at the Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission.
The commission brings together people from different disciplines to examine domestic violence homicides and ask difficult questions about what happened, what might have been missed, and what could be learned.
It's serious work, and it has a way of challenging what you think you know.
It also introduced us to each other.
As we got to know one another, we discovered that our professional experiences had led us toward many of the same questions. We cared about similar issues, shared a desire to improve how people and systems respond, and had each been finding our own ways to make a difference.
Dan had already established a small training business, hoping to bring his experience and ideas to a wider audience.
Jen had been using photography, advocacy, and public awareness campaigns—including billboards—to draw attention to people and issues that too often went unseen.
Neither effort began with Building Blue. Both began with the belief that understanding can change things.
And somewhere along the way, we realized we might be able to accomplish more together than either of us could independently.
That was the beginning of Building Blue.
It wasn't born from a perfectly developed business plan. It grew from conversations, shared experiences, different perspectives, and a mutual belief that the work mattered.
What started as an opportunity to combine our efforts has evolved into something much broader.
Today, Building Blue takes us into classrooms, conferences, organizations, and communities to explore issues ranging from domestic violence and trauma to Indigenous advocacy, cultural understanding, human behavior, professional decision-making, leadership, and resilience.
The work is serious. The subjects can be difficult. And we don't always approach them from the same direction.
That's part of what makes our partnership work.
We each bring our own experiences, perspectives, and ideas. We learn from one another, challenge assumptions—including our own—and continue discovering new ways to connect the work we've spent our lives doing.
We also know that nobody has all the answers. Certainly not us.
But we've learned that asking better questions, listening to different perspectives, and being willing to reconsider what we think we know can make a meaningful difference.
That's the spirit behind Building Blue.
It's not just a business we've built. It's something we've built together.
And we're still building.
We're Dan and Jen. We're glad you're here.