I always knew I was an artist, but it didn't make the most practical career path.
The fear of being unable to support myself eventually led me to trade in my colored pencils for degrees in English and Journalism. After graduation, I immediately secured a job with a publishing company, where I edited papers and put my knowledge of the Oxford Style Manual to good use.
It was only a few months before I knew I'd slowly go insane if I didn't make a drastic change. With a slew of pent-up creative energy and strong desire for self-sustenance, I opened up my Etsy shop and began, once again, to let my imagination guide me.
Managing a full-time job and my freelance illustration career has been a difficult but invigorating journey. I've finally discovered a sense of community, purpose, and creative fulfillment. I've learned to embrace hard work, new challenges, and managed to tackle a lot of small (and large!) fears. Best of all, I've learned a lesson that it takes many people years to learn: that anything is possible, and that there is magic everywhere.
After six years, I finally quit my day job in February 2017. I packed up all of my things, sublet my apartment in Brooklyn, and hit the road, traveling alone for the next 8 months. It was during this time that I wrote My Friend Fear: Finding Magic in the Unknown. With only my backpack and an open heart, I explored the unknown. I felt really scared and anxious about making this leap, but I did it anyway, and since then--I haven't looked back once.
It's almost 3 years later, and I am still a full-time artist and writer, now living in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm so grateful to do what I love for a living, and I hope to always make work that inspires others to become who they really are.
