One of the best things I have created (and I have created and curated many things) was the children’s book(but also for adults) I wrote, illustrated and published for my former blind rescued dog Jelly, he passed in 2014 right after we had moved from downtown NYC to Laurel Canyon, LA. We just moved into our home there and he told me it was time to go, he was old but he was my family, my best friend and a soul mate. I always wanted to write a book for him after, I was working on something longer which started because I was just writing down my thoughts and our life but one day I was drawing him (which I used to also do on my music fliers for gigs) but it was even more realistically looking like him for some reason and it turned into a book. I also used to teach so a children’s book was fitting and also for others dealing with loss and love(all of us). Jelly then started me working with and advocating for animals from dogs and cats to horses and rescued farm animals.

I always was creative even as a kid, I didn’t really realize it then but I had a big imagination and used to act out things, and then when I went to camp everyone had to audition for the play and you had to do it by singing – that’s when I realized I could sing- I wound up getting lead roles then put back in the chorus(life lesson) but I liked it and was good at it. I also loved art and danced as a kid and was good but quit when I became a teen because I didn’t like being yelled at. I’ve always loved and needed to move my body and its a crucial part of my life- I wound up taking yoga for the first time in college in Miami eventually getting certification later on to learn more and becoming a martial artist. Back to acting and singing, I didn’t take that up again until after high school-wasn’t a safe or inspiring place to do that for me though I listened to so much music(The Doors, grunge, Zeppelin, The Dead, Stevie Nicks etc.)- but got a guitar and studied acting in college (and teaching) and then moved back to NYC after where I studied more and took a job teaching kids, my head teacher pushed me to audition one day all the kids were and I got my manager that way. She sent me out on tons of stuff- I’d work all day then go after school. I didn’t book a lot but she got me on them. I then went on to sign with an agent and after a while- I had taken a job in fashion and wound up writing for a couple of magazines(one the former Dossier Journal) by writing the blog for the shop/others and took time off from acting. Then one day when I wasn’t signed anymore and just working- I got asked to audition for a role in the movie Momma’s Man and booked it. I also have an original song credit in it- all while I was acting I was also writing/playing music – these both took turns in a way of course but I worked with a couple of different producers, wound up showcasing for Atlantic, playing with Muzz Skilling’s band(formerly of Living Colour) and eventually playing solo. When I moved to LA I was in a band and my bandmate Joe recorded our album The Same but Different:Live From the Canyon from my then living room. I played guitar/did back up von for his band and he produced, played, sang and recorded my songs/his parts, his Dad also painted the art for the album cover-it was special. Oh yeah during time in NY I also had a perfume oil called Doll I had started just for myself that I was selling in the shop, giving to friends and at gigs, and it got picked up for magazines like Lucky, Nylon, TimeOutNY but I didn’t plan for or expect that. I re-started it over lockdown all natural and in honor of a dog named Fries. I also wrote, sang, produced and recorded/released some songs at that time. and I have been a vintage buyer and curator of images too. I am an artist- I used to try to wrangle it but I can’t put it in a box. I just always have to do it for myself then hope to help people(and animals) in some way. I have a new album/project I want to record this year and also thinking about sharing these meditation-y talks for Doll I recorded at the beach(its beachy) in the vein of my teachers(Bruce Lee, Krishna Das, Ram Dass, my Sifu et.). Some are already accessible on my Doll site. I mix all in all I do.

I wish we could get back to more authenticity and being real/yourself and not giving about being trendy or getting ‘likes’ I think that has partially messed up art with media and not just being in your own bubble of creating before that. Digging deeper into things than surface or that and also supporting that, those are the most exciting artists to me and always were mostly.

To be free, feel, love, learn and live life full. To be true and put that and good things out into this world.