For decades, I have explored what allows humans to remain emotionally grounded, imaginative, and deeply alive during periods of loss, uncertainty, and change.

That exploration has taken me across seven countries, multiple careers, and personal reinventions that included entrepreneurship, mindfulness training, creative ventures, activism, education, writing, and caregiving.

Today, those experiences converge in my work as a private companion for conscientious people choosing to live in caring and collaborative ways as our crises collide and systems crumble.

A Life of Reinvention

I was adopted at birth, and grew up with deep family instability, loss, grief, abuse, secrecy, and numerous tragedies, including suicides.

Those early experiences profoundly shaped my understanding of resilience, identity, and emotional steadiness as survival.

I have lived in the United States, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, China, Uruguay, and now, The Netherlands. In addition, I have spent months at a time in many other countries.

Each chapter taught me something essential about grief, creativity, possibility, and resilience.

I received scholarships to study psychology and Asian Studies.

Extensive study and travel throughout Asia, with a focus on Buddhism, expanded my view of the world and deepened my interest in mindfulness.

During a recession and period of uncertainty, I legally changed my name and consciously reinvented my life.

I moved to Japan to teach English. There, I met my husband, with whom I have now shared more than four decades of marriage, family life, entrepreneurship, creative collaboration, and global exploration.

In the early 2000s, I created an unconventional mindfulness approach that helped thousands of people in more than 100 countries cultivate greater calm, clarity, and creative awareness.

My work was featured in more than 150 media outlets worldwide.

In 2005, my husband and I decided to sell everything in the U.S. and move to Mexico, and then on to Argentina. We had four teenage daughters to usher through high school, college, and beyond.

In 2009, Crown/Random House published my book, The New Global Student, exploring alternative approaches to education, international living, and meaningful life design.

"Funny, innovative, and meaningful...a how-to guide with heart."       The Boston Globe

"Tremendous insight...essential reading for families yearning to step off the treadmill and plunge into the world."                                        Daniel H. Pink, New York TImes' bestselling author of DRIVE and A WHOLE NEW MIND

After China, while living in Mexico, I became seriously ill during an epidemic after contracting a mosquito-borne virus that triggered a severe degenerative condition.

That experience led to a two-year exploration of art and natural healing methods, with remarkable results for both my creativity and my health.

It strengthened my conviction that even during periods of systemic failure, humans remain capable of profound transformation.

When the pandemic hit, I was living with my husband in Buenos Aires during one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world.

Once again, I focused on art and healing.

I created and sold digital art, then donated the proceeds to non-profit organizations devoted to training citizen scientists to document changes in insects, plants, and trees where they lived. 

My art was shown in Italy, Spain, Scotland, and the U.S. 

What Shapes My Work Today

My lived experience continues to inform me.

I know what it means to:

• lose people you love 
• remain flexible as things fall apart
• search for meaning after disillusionment
• rebuild after collapse
• move across cultures
• question inherited systems
• reinvent your identity
• transform your business
• care for aging parents
• process multiple deaths in a short time
• embrace a new role as elder

A Final Note

In the last few years, I have lost all nine of my parents (birth, adoptive, step, and in-laws.) This required months at a time of attending to difficult transitions, end-of-life care, and grieving. I am now embracing my role as an elder.

After over a decade of having our family scattered across several continents, three daughters and their families now live within walking distance of us in Amsterdam, and one has settled in Jordan near her wonderful Palestinian-Jordanian in-laws.

Being surrounded by family has brought great joy, and we so appreciate our decision to move closer together, especially during this critical time.