Eli is a 36-year-old transgender man born and raised in the Madison, Wisconsin area. He grew up living and attending school in the west side/Fitchburg/Verona area, where he was an avid competitive swimmer. He left temporarily to attend the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and Spanish. Following college, Eli lived in Jaen, Spain, working as an elementary school teacher.
Eli hails from a family with a long history of service positions ranging from the military to first responders to teachers. Following this path, he worked in assisted living, coached swim team, instructed swim lessons, and was a lifeguard. He was hired by the Madison Police Department in 2013, where he would go on to spend 8 years as a patrol officer in predominantly the west/midtown/south districts. During his time there, he served as a field training officer, background investigator, mental health officer, and member of the Chief’s officer advisory committee. He resigned from the department in 2021.
Significant postramatic stress in addition to a severe leg injury from a freak accident which left him partially disabled led to struggles with addiction and alcohol. A staunch atheist, Eli initially resisted AA wholeheartedly until discovering that there were groups that did not meet in damp church basements. From then on, he has been a very active member of local AA and NA groups and remains very active in the recovery community. While finding his next path, Eli worked in the towing industry, assisted living, and was a haunt actor at Schuster’s haunted forest. In recent years, his career interest shifted into the field of technology. He attended University of Wisconsin-Madison for Cyber Security and continues his education in the IT field today.
Never one for human children, Eli is a animal lover through and through. He has been a dad to many rescue animals over the years. He is currently a dog dad to Remi (Chihuahua) and Ripley (Jack Russel-bit-of-everything). They can be seen in area dog parks on an almost daily basis.
Prior to his injury, Eli was very active in athletics. After growing up in competitive swimming, he turned his attention towards running, and completing several half marathons and marathons. He then combined his interests and completed the Ironman-Wisconsin triathlon in 2015 and 2018. He also enjoys playing pickleball and tennis with his parents, hiking, fishing, fat tire biking, and cheering for the Green Bay Packers.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________