how I got to where I am
(This head shot is not super current but still feels like me.)
My earliest memory is copying down the words I saw on The Electric Company into a discarded purse-size diary with a maroon plastic cover. I was maybe four years old, and it’s been me and the words ever since.
I earned my MA in English from the University of Kentucky, where I fell in love with unraveling complex ideas and the give and take of deep conversation. (My areas of interest were gender and sexuality, French feminist theory, and the gothic. It was wonderful and I miss it.)
My first job out of school was as an editor for a trade magazine for high-end spa owners. This led to PR and community initiatives for a bunch of five-star hotels and restaurants, where I fell in love with creating meaningful, magical experiences.
I held director-level brand and marketing positions at two local non-profit arts institutions, where I fell in love with telling artists’ stories.
I taught college English as an adjunct for about five years. I asked for the remedial classes, returning to language at its most granular level, where I fell in love (again) with the beauty and power of a single sentence.
I wrote book reviews and fashion snippets for our alt-weekly, and high society profiles for our upscale city magazine, where I learned to love both interviewing and deadlines.
When the pandemic hit, I returned to that first love. I wrote down so many new words in so many new notebooks. I earned certifications or completed programs in Jungian life coaching, creativity coaching, tarot reading, dream interpretation, and even Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
(In hindsight, that midlife ADHD diagnosis shouldn’t have taken so long to figure out.)
Now I do this. In addition to the offerings listed on this site, I lead in-person and online workshops on writing, creativity, and dreams. I’ve started but not finished three novels (which is the true word-person bona fide) and spend almost all my free time reading and daydreaming.