The seeds of my aesthetic and creative instincts were undoubtedly planted in childhood.
I grew up in the mountains of Colorado, surrounded by nature and living in houses designed by my parents and decorated with the interesting antiques, eclectic art, and colorful textiles we brought home from our many family trips to Mexico. Both of my parents were (and still are!) performers, so our house was always filled with music and I spent most of my early years performing as well.
After graduating from college, my circuitous life path enabled me to live in a variety of places across the US: Denver, NYC, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Washington DC, San Francisco, Mendocino, and Santa Monica, some of which I lived in before meeting my husband, and fellow nomad, Jason, and others we ventured to together. I’m also a perpetual student and though my degree is in Art History, I have pursued additional education in Fashion, Interior Design, and Event Management as well as taken classes and had mentorships in painting, fiction writing, drawing, sewing, and jewelry making.
For a number of years, I worked as an event designer creating fashion shows, themed parties and other events in the hospitality industry, and later managed non-profit fundraisers while living in Denver, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. A serendipitous, life changing encounter with artist and teacher, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, shifted my path profoundly and I soon found myself managing Wisdom House Gallery, Shiloh’s women-centered art gallery north of the Bay Area.
I was thrilled when the opportunity arose to return to Denver to open my own art sanctuary, Soulrise Gallery, which showcased sacred art created by women and offered workshops and events promoting art as a spiritual practice.
After departing from gallery life to bring my son Rio into the world, I started to explore new depths of personal creativity. Although my primary focus was on being a mama, I soon began creating custom jewelry, handcrafted pillows, home accessories, and artwork, and did a variety of decorating and home styling jobs. I also got bitten by the writing bug and started working on a middle grade fantasy novel and became a certified yoga teacher. Over a decade ago, our wanderlust kicked in again, made more urgent by my husband’s work demands, and we moved to our current colorful home in Los Angeles, a few miles from the beach. I have loved creating custom portraits and paper cut art and covering many walls with huge murals of flowers, rainbows, bugs, birds, sunsets, stars, and anything else that strikes my fancy. I’ve also worked as a personal style consultant and color analyst for the last four + years which has been extremely rewarding. While I recently closed that chapter, I’ll soon be sharing details about my newest business venture, synthesizing all of these assorted obsessions!
