I am a writer, apparel designer, and entrepreneur.
At some point I realized there were big holes in the world: the voids that exist where we hold back our creativity. For years, I left my own void and watched the people around me stifled their own original beauty to be marketable, to sustain themselves, to feel safe, to feel accepted. But somewhere in my fall to grace from a very promising global health career, I realized that the withholding of our creative gifts was having an impact on the world. I became enamored with the idea that it was through creative expression that we could bring about the sort of healing the world and its beings desperately need.
~Business is an avenue for building a creative vision in the world and supporting our creative engines.~
So I am building my dream and sharing openly and honestly here about what I discover and learn from others on this path. I write, I design clothing, I am learning to sew my own prototypes.
Also worth noting, out of a distain for our cultural push to showcase a particular sort of success and hide the extremely human grunt work and toil that fuels it, I am going to push myself and the groups sharing work here to bring the sort of honesty we don’t get enough of in this world.
I fuel the creative work you see here with writing consulting [check out my portfolio here] and work at a local donut shop that I respect immensely–they pay their employees generously, source from local farms, hand-make nearly everything, and constantly reimagine ingredients. In short, they embody all the values I talk about here. The work is not glamorous, and I take enormous pride in it.
I have also come to sewing and design later in life. I switched careers and decided to pursuit my dreams at 30 years old, having never learned to use a sewing machine, properly draw a woman’s figure or worked with a manufacturer.
I say this, because it is important for you to know that I am writing from the uncertain place of someone who is choosing to find the courage to pursuit their dreams, knowing full well that I have a late start. I want you to know this so that you can find your courage and join me if you too have discovered your dream after decades of life in this world and want to find the courage to start walking the path with me to bring it out into the world.
Other tidbits: I am a bike lover, have an eclectic family that includes two German Shepherds, I am completely obsessed with food and cooking, and I am on a journey to learn to sew and draw that began at 33 years old.
Lantern Image courtesy of Maria Brubeck