My Story

I have been a professional artist for 25 years, working in 16 different studios and showing my work in 40 exhibitions here in the United States and in Europe. But there was a time when I too struggled to take ownership of my creative power.

I started out running a successful graphic design firm in Boston working with clients in the arts, healthcare, and education. It was thrilling to design for great clients and make a solid income yet it seemed like something was missing. I always felt my art calling to me. 

I went back to school and took class after class trying to find a sense of confidence in myself as an artist. Despite doing a lot of experimental work and gaining a great deal of experience, I still didn’t have a consistent art practice outside of school.

I also became pregnant and had my two wonderful daughters around this time. My mother part was feasting, but my artist part was starving! I tried all sorts of ways to squeeze in time for my work…yet I was often too tired at the end of the day. I resorted to taking more classes and when that didn’t give me the confidence I was looking for, I became frustrated and started losing hope.

Then one day, a friend told me about an artist who was looking to sublet her studio. My heart leapt out of my chest! Yes! I committed to the studio and spent the following years slowly creating my work and figuring out how to develop a solid studio practice. (See my BUILD Your Studio Practice course if you’d like to fast track this process!)

I was honored and thrilled when my first major exhibition was named by the Boston Globe as one of the Top Ten Exhibitions in the city that year. Numerous successful exhibitions and gallery representations followed. 

One of the MOST important aspects of my art life was being part of a group of five women artists. We met every month for five years, taking turns having studio visits. We shared our work, our life stories, our technical expertise and our undying support. Without those amazing women, I’m not sure I would be an artist today. (Check out The Art Group where I recreate some of the best aspects of our artists group.)

THEN, just as I was feeling solid in my practice and my art community in Boston, I uprooted my life and moved to England with my family. It was a great adventure but I had no studio and no art community around me and was forced to start all over. 

I spent a lot of time trying to connect with a new art community, going to openings alone, trying to meet folks and learn about the scene.

When I finally applied for a studio I really wanted, I was met with rejection. I applied for another only to find out there would be a one-year wait… 

I felt like I was on the outside with my nose pressed against the glass trying to find my way in. I became seriously depressed as I struggled to keep my practice alive in the random spaces I could find. This was when I learned that art-making wasn’t optional, but central to my well-being.

Around this time, I met with a coach a friend of mine was working with and felt an intuitive calling. This coach told me about the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) and after staying up all night researching, I signed up for the course to become a professional coach.

The CTI coach training in London opened up my life to a community of people eager to grow themselves and help others. Throughout the one-year training, I gave and received coaching on an ongoing basis which gifted me with a deep sense of connection that replenished so much of my joy and strength.

I went on to become a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and continued in their rigorous one-year CTI Leadership program. I started my coaching business right away, inspired to focus my work on supporting creative women.

Coaching helped me get back on track with my commitment to art. I eventually got accepted into a fabulous artist’s studio building and became part of a dynamic community of artists again.

This led to me getting hired to teach a Drawing Seminar at the University of West England which launched my career in teaching at the university level.

As I developed my practice in England, I was invited to show my work in Bristol, Birmingham, London, and Berlin. These exhibitions were thrilling and gave me the opportunity to expand the conversation around my work and gain new insights into how my work was received in different cultures and at various types of venues.

When I returned to the US, I earned a mid-career MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) where I had the opportunity to pivot my work toward painting working with the support of some powerfully gifted women painters. At the culmination of my SAIC studies, I presented a new body of paintings along with my MFA written thesis, The New Brag, and a 104-page artists book, What Was Found: The Archive Project. I was invited to join the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University where I taught for three years and at SAIC where I continue to teach.

Even though my career trajectory shifted many times — and I experienced countless ups and downs — clarifying my evolving vision and removing what stood in the way of that vision is what helped me prevail every time.

My work now is to help you do the same so you can flow freely toward your most resonant expression in the world and experience genuine fulfillment.

At this point in my journey, fulfillment for me is being true to my path as an artist — no matter how winding it gets — and calling you forth to do the same.

I’m here to offer you the support you need to reach that place of inspired commitment where the life of your dreams becomes not only possible, but also inevitable.