the founder of Design Vibrance! I’ve been a health advocate for most of my life and have worked in the health care industry for almost 30 years.

I grew up on a farm in the foothills of the great smokey mountains of North Carolina, less than four hours from the Atlantic ocean, and that lifestyle inspires me to this day. Walking and running the countryside with our pets and playing with my brother and friends from church and school "outside", where mom always directed us, was a daily occurrence. There were large family gatherings with tables full of homemade southern food, potluck dinners at the church where everyone brought their favorite homemade dish, mom and I baked homemade desserts in the kitchen every week and we all ate home grown/home cooked food from the garden on a daily basis. That’s all I knew, it’s just the way it was. We rarely “ate out”.

The occasional trip into town with daddy to run errands followed by a BBQ sandwich with sliced pickles and coleslaw at City BBQ, and the even less frequent family dinners at the “fish camp” where we always ordered fried flounder - mine with ketchup, of course - were treats for us.

The wooded mountains were a haven for me but I also loved the nearby ocean and beaches. There were family vacations every summer, trips with friends from high school and college. So many memories of “shagging” (that would be dancing!) to Jimmy Buffet on beach front patios in the evening, hours spent swimming in the salty water, walking and running in the moist air with mesmerizing waves washing up on our bare feet, ending every day with a meal of fresh fish and one more stroll in the cool sand after dark. It was a time of wonder and true connection to the earth. I lived in New England during my 20’s reveling in the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, then L.A. and spent a lot of time on the beaches there - so the ocean has always been a big part of my life.

Those were also the years when creativity just - was. Drawing and music specifically - piano and singing. Athletic ability emerged with coaching after being “recruited” (because of my height) for the high school and then college basketball teams, and with all the time in nature - it’s when I learned to love silence. From a young age I contemplated life in the increasingly confusing world I was growing into, and the many quiet moments sought out while walking the farm, the beach or when tucked away in my bedroom on the backside of the house - were a refuge.

I still walk and run in nature and cook healthy food every day (though now mostly organic!), love biking, hiking, strength training, snow mobiling & swing dancing, time at our Minnesota lakes and the ocean when I travel, am an artist and crave and nurture silence as many moments as I can every day. It’s a fertile place of creativity, connection and restoration for me.