About Me

I’ve been where you are—staring at the ceiling at 4am, wishing my heart would just stop.

I spent years floating through life. I was the bubbly girl who laughed too loud, but secretly, I was suffering. From a very young age, I was considered a talented artist. By 12, I had been diagnosed with clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder. My potential felt like a burden, not a gift.

Throughout my 20’s, I tried every productivity hack and took every piece of spiritual advice I came across, because I thought happiness meant playing the game, and winning. I lived life on life’s terms. In the winter of my 22nd year, I spent 11 days in a psych ward for being “too happy” after totaling my 1990 Mustang. I treated it like summer camp. Finally, something in me began to melt during the short respite from life’s breakneck pace.

I became obsessed with holistic health and started to connect the dots between mind, body, and soul. For the last decade and a half, I’ve learned about nutrition, healing modalities, functional patterns, nervous system health, healthy bonding and communication, plants and ecology.

I was lost and found several times since my Mustang bit the dust. I performed stand-up, acted in film and television, and jumped between several industries. I busked offering ‘face readings’ and ‘free compliments.’ I went to college for horticulture, and started an art club. I found out who my real friends are and got into a rock solid long-term relationship.

Now, my story is probably a little more extreme than most.

It’s fair to say that most people would never try stand-up comedy or busking, and I can’t blame them. If I hadn’t spent years cultivating emotional resilience through CBT, DBT, alternative medicine, self-study, and life experience, I would have fainted before every set (even so, it still happened once!)

It gave me a sense of belonging. It helped me feel seen. It got me in front of real people when I had a tendency to isolate myself. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I did is called Niche Construction. I built a circle where I felt safe enough to unmask.

Being our true selves is our birth right. Yet it’s easy to forget who you are behind the mask when you’ve been masking for so long. Creativity puts me in touch with something tangible, slows down thinking, and strengthens neural pathways that eventually lead to better self-management.

If this story speaks to you, please consider attending my Live Webinar on Creativity for Anxiety Relief.