The McClenkes
Est. 2015
Seattle, WA
His Story
Todd was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. He was lovingly referred to as the "bastard child" by his nana growing up. She refused to watch him because he was such a terror.
Todd was active and loved sports, especially basketball and baseball. Apparently, he was pretty good too. It was all fueled by about a dozen eggs per day, eaten around midnight.
When it came time to look at colleges, Todd had the brains to go anywhere he wanted. After much consideration, he settled on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and it was a fine decision indeed. He started off majoring in music performance (playing Jazz on the saxamaphone), but decided maybe a more stable job path was better. He decided to pursue economics, with a minor in business and music. During his time at UNC, Todd was active in the music community, made a lot of friends, and traveled to London, Kenya, and Thailand for internships and study. Todd also developed a cute Southern accent that only comes out around those UNC friends, and usually after a couple beers.
When it came to the job search, Todd was one of the lucky chosen few. He got a job as a management consultant at BCG in Washington, DC, and spent the next year of his life on airplanes, in hotels, and getting upgraded on flights, much to the chagrin of his family. After a year, however, that lifestyle became tiresome and Todd was transferred to BCG Perth.
It was there, after about a week, that he went to that fateful pizza party. There he was, sitting among peers, talking about airline points and hotel upgrades, when she walked in with a co-worker friend. That's when he met Nicki.
He really wanted to impress her, so within a few weeks, he began to grow a mustache. It was the biggest mustache ever and resembled a small rodent. Nicki was pleased, but still needed some convincing.
When Todd was in the US over Christmas break, he stayed in touch with Nicki, sending her A Christmas Story and pictures from his travels to Spain. He knew, though, that when he got off his business class flight to Australia, he would have to start dating this girl.
And as they say, the rest is history.
Her Story
Nicki was born and raised in the Crowsnest Pass, a little mountain town in the Albertan Rockies. Like an indian summer before the bitter Canadian winter, she was an adorable, well- behaved little potlicker (up until her adolescence)!
As she grew older, Nicki’s stubborn side grew stronger... but was fortunately channeled into top performance in classes, softball, volleyball, skiing, and pretty much anything someone told her she couldn’t do. It was here too that she developed a crew of friends who held a similar mindset and would stay close despite time and distance's challenges. We're pretty sure she was a vegetarian around this time...
After high school, Nicki decided to head off to the big city of Calgary for college, first at Mount Royal University and then at the University of Calgary. She managed to maintain a strong GPA , work multiple jobs, and still have a bit of time for fun on the side. For studies, Nicki settled on following the family business and picked up a degree in accounting like her mother and grandfather before her. Rumo(u)r has it that she tried veganism briefly around this time.
It was also during university that her growing interest in international travel was allowed to finally take flight (get it?). She spent 6 months “studying” in Adelaide, South Australia and traveling the lesser East coast.
The traveling continued with an excursion to South America with her BFF Kelly Cytko. Despite altitude sickness, food sickness, and multiple thefts of equipment, summits were reached and countries conquered como conquistadoras.
The next chapters featured time spent time in Canmore putting the accounting degree to good use (when she wasn't skiing that is), Vancouver volunteering for the Winter Olympics, South Korea where she taught English, was taught (by Koreans) on how Korea is best and traveling through Asia, including a spin in India learning how to be a yoga teacher and Nepal, reaching base camps.
After these years of traveling and shuffling around, Nicki decided it was time to settle down. A plane ticket was purchased to Perth, and she arrived there shortly after. Mutual friends were discovered and she ended up crashing with a fellow alum from U of C while the job search was completed.
It was also during this time that Nicki had the good fortune of meeting Todd through one of those mutual friends. This all occurred at the beginning of November, which in Australia is basically a federal holiday for razor blades to take time off from shaving men’s upper lips. So it goes, as Todd’s mustache thickened, so did Nicki’s interest in Todd. So thick in fact, that when it was finally removed she still remained interested. A low gluten diet was settled on.
OUR STORY
Todd & Nicki spent nearly a year in Australia together, first as friends, then finally, one of them relented. It's unclear to this day who the first person to make a move was. Together they traveled to Esperance, Margaret River, and Lancelin in Western Australia, and Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef on the (lesser) side of the country. They also had the opportunity to travel to Canada and the U.S. together, stopping in Singapore, New Zealand, New York, and Washington, D.C. along the way. If you've ever looked on a map, Perth and North Carolina are nearly antipodes... that is, they are almost complete opposites on the globe. The 40 hour journey was becoming tiresome, so they decided to pack up and head back to North America. Following a short stint in Toronto, ON, they settled on Seattle, a perfect blend of West Coast drizzle, skiing, and surfing.
After about 2 months of working from home, Nicki was losing her mind and decided they WERE getting a dog. This is probably the decision in their relationship Todd had the least say in, though, it was like twisting a rubber arm, especially when they met her. Prevelly, named after their favorite vacation beach in Western Australia, is a German Shorthaired Pointer, and they fell in love immediately. She's the best.
In September 2013, Nicki started at the University of Washington for her MPA degree. In their free time, Nicki and Todd still take full advantage of PNW fun: backcountry skiing, surfing, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, and walking pooch. This past summer, Nicki spent 10 weeks in Boston for an internship and nearly died without her dog around. She missed Todd too.
Todd is working for the same company that brought him to Seattle, Switchpoint, and has gotten to meet a lot of cool people and work on cool projects. It helps that SP values culture and work-life balance, because he also spends a lot of time puttering around the house cleaning mirrors and on the coast teaching kids to surf.