Before I wrote a single line of production code, I spent over a decade in the United States Army. Two combat deployments to Afghanistan. Signal operations, drone programs, satellite communications, SIGINT. The Army has a way of teaching you that systems either work or people get hurt — and that lesson never left me.
After hanging up the uniform, I pursued what I'd always loved: technology — formally this time. I studied Business Administration with an Information Systems concentration at Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico (now part of SUAGM / Ana G. Méndez University). And while I was there, I also happened to win Triple Jump and Long Jump at Las Justas every year I competed, took silver in the Decathlon, and represented the Dominican Republic nationally as a track & field athlete. You know, casually.
These days my sprint is in AI and agentic systems. I'm deep in Claude API, MCP servers, and building products where agents do real work — not just generate text. Currently: tend.host (AI-driven hosting operations) and tenddash (infrastructure command center). Both are shipping. Both are ambitious. That's how I like it.
Life also gave me four great kids: Catherine, whom I had when I was 17 (life had its own timeline — I've made peace with it and turned it into a story I'm proud of), and then Wilkin Jr., Alex, and my youngest, Liberty, who has declared my free time a nationally protected territory under her jurisdiction. My cat Bailey is currently filing diplomatic complaints about Liberty's monopoly on my attention. Negotiations are ongoing.
Keeping all of this from descending into complete chaos is my wife, Kiara Santana — Liberty's mom, the reason this household has any structure whatsoever, and the only person on earth who can out-negotiate Bailey and Liberty simultaneously. I would say I don't know what I'd do without her, but honestly I think the house would just be a drone parts warehouse by now. She keeps me straight. I'm legally required to mention that.
When I'm not building or being drafted into tea parties, I fly drones, shoot 360° photography, and hit the gym. The camera and the barbell are the two things that reliably clear my head.