“Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”

-Jean-Michel Basquiat

I’m a multipotentialite—someone with a wide range of interests, passions, and creative pursuits. My endless curiosity has led me down many paths, from building an interior design business to performing as a professional jazz vocalist and even storytelling on a national TV show. I love pushing myself as a lifelong learner, always striving for excellence while using my artistic sensibilities to blend contrast, refinement, and simplicity in life. It’s both a drive and a desire to live as deeply and intentionally as possible.

I grew up in New Haven, CT, where my father was the chief of immunology at Yale University medical school. I was a curious kid who could spend hours absorbed in the microcosm of plants and insects on the grassy slope in my neighborhood park or wandering among the neo-Gothic buildings of the Yale campus—while enjoying New Haven pizza, of course! On the street in front of the house where I grew up, I used to draw life-sized chalk drawings of imaginary rooms where the neighborhood kids and I would pretend to live, long before I even knew what a floor plan was.

My father’s research took our family abroad to London, England, where we lived for a few years. There, I had the incredible opportunity to broaden my perspective beyond my New England roots. From our home base in London, my family and I traveled across Europe, immersing ourselves in the scenery and culture of its charming towns and villages. We spent overnights in thatched-roof cottages while working as farmhands, climbed winding stone staircases to the tops of church bell towers in bustling piazzas, and marveled at ancient tapestries within the cloistered walls of monasteries. We ate, drank, and adventured our way around Europe, visiting every museum and country manor we could locate on a fold-out map. It was basically a bougie version of National Lampoon’s European Vacation—with a little more art appreciation, all the humor and fewer mishaps.

My parents were true bon vivants who taught me to be a connoisseur of life. We learned the art of marble papermaking in Florence, indulged in daily visits to the local gelateria, and attended midnight Mass after cooking homemade carbonara with friends in Milan. We wandered the rocky beaches of the French Riviera, stopping at outdoor food markets for a taste of local produce and riding bikes through fields of lavender. We visited the English gardens of Gertrude Jekyll, the home of Winston Churchill and of illustrator William Morris. One particularly strange memory I have is staying overnight with a friend of my father’s—a nobleman-turned-flooring-entrepreneur whose success inspired him to cover every inch of his ancient stone castle, including the stone spiral turret staircases, in broadloom carpet.

On one of these jaunts through rural Ireland, with the scent of burning peat moss in the air, we pulled into a tiny village—where, to our surprise, a single sheep stood atop a quintessential red telephone booth in the village square. As best we could tell, it had started its journey along a low stone wall bordering a field, continuing its tightrope walk as the wall rose higher, eventually aligning with the booth’s roof. There, stuck at an impasse, it had nowhere to go—nor any way to turn back. Moments like these brought my family closer, shaped my sense of humor and spontaneity, and, most importantly, taught me to embrace life. Because you never know what incredible or unexpected experiences might be just around the corner! 

Actual photo of sheep atop telephone booth to come! I need to dig it out of my parents old photo albums.

Even before I wanted to be an architectural and interior designer, I had a critical awareness of my environment; scrutinizing buildings, taking note of the things I liked and disliked. One building in particular continues to offer profound inspiration for me: The Beinecke Library at Yale campus: A 1960’s masterpiece that houses extremely rare, early books and manuscripts in a central column of glass rising three stories high within a cathedral-like enclosure. If I went to church—this would be it; a truly sacred place, encased in a honeycombed network of marble panels that rise several stories high. The thick, veined marble panels block damage from the sun while letting in just enough light to create a warm and almost holy glow enclosing the books and manuscripts. Here, the form and functionality of the space is intertwined in the most beautiful and moving of ways, creating an unforgettable experience. 

I’ve always been deeply in tune with my senses—not just the five we all know, but the inner intuition that fuels my endless pursuit of beauty. I don’t just see the world; I absorb and translate it into expression. I don’t just observe the world—I take it in, process it, and express it through design. I absorb the energy around me and reflect it back by creating spaces that evoke emotion and meaning. This heightened awareness allows me to see potential where others might not—turning the ordinary into something extraordinary. That connection to beauty, to the universe, and to everything good in the world that drives my work and inspires me to design spaces that truly elevate and enrich lives.

I first learned of a career designing buildings in high school, when one day, with my father at Yale campus, we ran into his friend who was an architect. When he explained what he did for work the concept blew my mind. I immediately knew – THIS is what I want to do…THIS is who I want to BE! I didn’t realize, however, that my path would be multi-layered and my life would be full of varied forms of self-expression. 

Growing up, my creativity was always encouraged and celebrated, but my parents insisted that before specializing in architecture, I should first receive a liberal arts education. I wound up at Boston University majoring in History and Urban Studies. The years I spent gallivanting through museums and ancient ruins of Europe prepared me well for my college art and architecture history courses. However, there were no hands-on design classes so I created opportunities for myself to learn about architecture and interior design. I founded the BU Architecture Association and took design and drafting classes elsewhere, including the Career Discovery Program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. That led me to discover UC Berkeley’s master’s program in architecture. I applied immediately, was accepted, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I earned my master’s degree in 1993. Like many before me, I became hooked on the perpetual sunshine, the diversity, and the relaxed lifestyle of California. But it was the feeling of expansiveness, of acceptance and sense of fun and adventure I felt which made me fall in love with California and lay down roots there. I got married, started a family and called it home for the next 17 years. 

The Bay Area is full of creative opportunities so during those post-graduate years, I drank in every angle of design I could. I worked across a diverse range of firms, including those specializing in architecture, lighting design, and manufacturing, as well as lighting and kitchen showrooms, exhibit design firms, and furniture design companies. I used the SF Energy Center’s Heliodon machine to study energy effects and daylight shading on my building designs. I partnered with emerging Bay Area glass artisans to create elaborate blown-glass and iron lighting fixtures for hotels and restaurants. I collaborated with craftspeople in Indonesia to create a line of custom Tamarind wood furniture.  I was even among the earliest, regular attendees of Burning Man, an event focused on art, sculpture, buildings, self-expression, self-reliance and community held annually in the Nevada desert.

Eventually I founded my own design business in the Bay Area in 2001. I was always good at hand-drafting, having learned to pencil-draw perfect sixteenths of an inch in “archi-torture” school and I could spend hours fine-tuning my floor plans and elevations until they were veritable pieces of art. I soon discovered that I also loved the more tactile, sensory elements of interior design such as the interplay of color and pattern in fabrics and the dimensionality and texture of wall tile. I also developed a real appreciation for how lighting can transform a space, so I made sure to incorporate this often-overlooked detail into every design I created.

I learned a lot working with clients in those early years, and I was extremely lucky to have access to the SF Bay Area’s huge array of unique and artistic design resources. Over the course of a decade, I dove into the Bay Area’s expansive design community continuing to help residential clients with interior design and remodels as a young mother of two. Never did I think I would move home to New England from “The Paradise,” as one foreign friend would call California, but in 2010 it came time to pivot and my then husband and our kids packed up and moved back East to start a new adventure in the Boston area.

At this point, the natural next step for someone with my extensive design experience would obviously be to start a professional singing career—because that makes perfect sense, right? (Cue sarcasm!) Singing had always been a passion of mine, from my years in choirs throughout my youth to performing in bands during college and graduate school. Just after my first child was born in California, I wanted a creative outlet for myself, so I joined the Oakland Jazz Choir—a 50-voice big band unlike anything else. We toured all over Northern California, and I had an absolute blast. The OJC was my first real introduction to Jazz, and I was 100% smitten! This was the cool music, the hip music, the most challenging music I could sing, and I ate up every opportunity I could. I had just begun to sing in clubs in SF when my family made the move East. I quickly embraced the Boston music scene and began to play with a huge variety of incredibly talented musicians. I have since been performing as a jazz vocalist in and around Boston and New England, and as a recording artist I released my first album, Her Own Sweet World in 2012. My second album, Body and Soul Eyes, is set to release next year.

One of the most memorable times I’ve ever performed was a moment that brought me full circle—as both a vocalist and a designer: A few years ago, I was invited to perform in the courtyard of the Boston Public Library, a building I had admired and studied in college as it is one of Boston’s notable pieces of Beaux Arts architecture. As we performed our concert, the stone enclosure of the central outdoor courtyard created a mesmerizing sonic resonance unlike anything I had ever experienced. Our music, enveloped by the elegant backdrop of the architecture, heightened the breathtaking and intoxicating beauty of the surrounding buildings.

A wise person once said writing about music is like dancing about architecture. My journey in design has been a diverse and multi-layered one, rich in complex harmonies and rhythms pulling me back and forth like a jazz waltz – continuously playful in spirit, and always with a constant, driving pulse leading me towards beauty.