That’s why I’m here. To experiment with ways of building community, living creatively, unfolding spiritually and doing it on my own terms. And because I’m nervous, scared and slightly horrified to put myself out there (again), I want to try anyway.

This website, the book, the virtual talk group, all of it, is an intentional process. An experiment in “how would it be if…” and “what might it look like if…” A practice in embracing progress over perfection.

Before this moment, here’s a snapshot of the road travelled thus far:

• Born and raised in a very Catholic lower-middle-class household in a small town in Pennsylvania with one older sister.

• “Grew up” in the city of Philadelphia starting at 18 y/o. I love hoagies and stromboli.

• Originally dreamed of a work-life in a creative industry like fashion, marketing and design. The world was so different then. My undergrad degree was from the country’s first textile school. The BA was called Fashion Apparel Management (think apparel production and product development).

• Moved to San Francisco for a year in the late 90s, not too long after I got fired from my first job post-undergrad (apparel manufacturing account executive). It was the right city at the wrong time. I tested out all the dance floors and better understood that life can look different.

• Pivoted to print media advertising sales and marketing. Learned a lot. Got trapped there. Got depressed.

• My Saturn Returns (28th year, fourth cycle of 7) kicked my ass, but through it I fell in love with photography and writing and found my more expansive creative self.

• The business world of earning money for a corporation felt like shit—a complete misalignment. I couldn’t land a job with any sort of decent income, and the people I was surrounded by were too often a bit too miserable. I knew it wasn’t the life I wanted. I said FUCK IT and went to massage therapy school because receiving therapeutic massage got me through a stressful and depressive period. I wondered what it would be like to have a job where people expressed their appreciation with a hug and then handed me money

• I felt correct for the first time in my life after throwing away the stability of a full-time paycheck and bad office lighting. I was afraid and alive. I traded in free office supplies for candlelight, soft music, a wildly non-traditional schedule and a new way of looking at the world, myself and others. Once again I discovered that life can look different than what I was sold.

• Therapeutic massage landed me on the right planet. But ever since then, I’ve been looking for my town and community where I can plant a garden, breathe deeply and feel ease in my body.

• I landed on Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine but the learning process was far from inspiring and engaging, so I jumped ship into the submarine of Psychotherapy. In graduate school, we danced with scarves, talked to pillows, walked through the imagery of our dreams, met our spirit guides in other realms and learned how to hold space for the human experience in all its forms. I just wanted to be like Oprah. It’s all Oprah’s fault. (Hey Auntie O! CALL ME!)

• I’ve worked for others, and I’ve worked for myself. On both sides of the coin, core components were missing, and harmony remained elusive. As time went on, the underbelly of the greater systems at play came into focus.

• San Francisco became my longest relationship.

• As a licensed mental health professional, I paused from direct services and nonprofit work, eventually landing in mental health tech (workplace mental health, to be exact) with big visions and hopes of financial stabilization—only to rediscover that a corporation is still a corporation. I continued to utterly loathe bullshit, and humans continued to perform odd behaviors to survive the corporate landscape.

• The online talk group You Are Not Your Job is inspired by my time leading a weekly group for a year with a now-defunct startup. It was my favorite part of Saturday mornings.

• Now in the second half of life, I’m jumping headfirst into new territory—discovering what I’ve missed, reflecting on what I’ve observed along the way and welcoming the unexpected. And I hope the unexpected is nothing short of marvelous. Also wondering if I should grow out my hair.

• If you’re reading this, perhaps we’ll be adventuring together.

  ♡