Can't Spell Team Without Me!

Hello There!

So, let's start with my Oliver Twist (a reference here to the famous book, where in the opening, author Charles Dickens tells you his character's life story):

I was born on June 5, 1991 at the hospital in Monroe, MI. It was my parent's 4th wedding anniversary. I've had a birthday every year since then, and am now 34 years old. 

I have red hair that I come by naturally, am 5'9", and am a bit of an extrovert. (Though, I do very much enjoy my quiet, alone time.)

I graduated from Ida High School in Ida, MI in 2009 and that same year started undergrad at Easter Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. My major was in Creative Writing and minor in Children's Literature. I graduated in 2014 and later that same year started Grad school at Eastern for Creative Writing. In 2015, I changed my graduate major officially to Children's Literature. I graduated in 2017 with my Master of Arts degree.

In 2010, I got my first job working at Little House of Hugs Preschool and Daycare Center, where I was an assistant teacher to children from ages 6 months to 10 years. I left in 2016 to finish my MA degree (because working full time and going to grad school full time left me doing 16-18 hour days. And that's not sustainable). I also worked, from 2015-2017, as a TA at Eastern for the Children's Literature department, where I hosted study sessions, created study guides, lead classroom lectures, and held office hours to help students with the undergrad lecture hall classes. After I graduated and left, I got a job at the Monroe County Library System at the Ellis branch on M50. It was a dream. I was a library clerk--which, contrary to what people think, does not require a MLS (Masters of Library Science) degree to do. Just a high school diploma (so, yes, I was technically over-qualified, but my boss at the time took a chance on me and highered me anyway)--so I helped check people in and out, found books to put on hold, attended to questions, and ran programs (and all of my programs made it into the Monroe Evening News). I stayed there for nearly 5 years before I left there to work at Leo Burnett--now Martin Retail Group--an advertising company that works for GM (so, think GMC, Buick, and Cadillac). I've been working for them going on 5 years now, and I mostly work from home (though now I am up in Troy at the office 3 days a week), which gives me a lot of time to work on my art.

And that's my Oliver Twist story.

As you can see, I've lived a very excited life in 34 years so far--always busy with school or work or something.

That hasn't changed.

I still am very busy--working full time with a side hussel will do that to you--but I also know sometimes I need to make the time to do the things that I enjoy and that fill up my cup.

Creating art is one of those outlets for me.

I mostly work with beads in my day to day art, but I'm also starting to dabble into sewing too. I like to work with functional, pretty items: jewerly, fashion, and trinkets that youre able to wear or show off. I have a whole catalog of things that I sell at my shared booth with our VP, Kinzie, and I'm always adding more things every so often.

But if you were to ask me what art I love most, I'd tell you writing.

I've wanted to be a writer since I was 5 years old. I'd still like to be a writer, 30 years later. But now I understand that I also need to keep my day job (something I was told frequently growing up).

This is why I was put in charge of writing the blog (albeit that I do it sporatically).

I've technically been published as well (in a school paper and online) and my thesis sits in the archives of Eastern Michigan University (I own the rights to it, though, so if I ever wanted to traditionally publish my works, I don't have to fight to get them from the University), but I've yet to write the Great American Novel™ and have it be published.

The only down side that I've ever seen to having words be my medium instead of traditional art mediums like oil, acrylics, or even photography is that it takes much longer for people to absorb the intention of the art. It takes time, effort, and critical thinking analytical skills to comprehend words. Whereas a painting or photo is easily glanced at, evokes emotion, and can be absorbed quickly without too much analysis being put at the forefront.

Not to say that a painting or photo cannot do those things. But it is significally easier to do them with an image verus reading words.

In that sense, I've always been envious of people who can draw and paint the images they see out in the world or inside of their head.

Sure, I can evoke imagery and emotion through writing, but it takes the "theater of the mind" as we say in D&D in order for people to understand. And along with that comes the thousands upon thousands of variations of how people can interpret the imagery and emotion I evoke (which, honestly? Is my favorite part of writing. There is no stagnet interpretation when it comes to the written description of things).

It's very much like:

That all being said, here are some fun facts about me! :

• I also love to bake!
• I'm a Gemini
• I'm very head strong and believe through spite, all things are possible
• I'm an advid reader. My favorite genre is romance, but I also dabble in fantasy, sci-fi, and slice-of-life fiction
• My desk at work is all pink. Pink is not my favorite color (that'd be blue) but I love how bright, vibrant, and happy pink is. This is why my desk at work is all pink. Because I'm not trapped in the office with my coworkers. They're trapped with me. 
• I collect porclean dolls. No, I don't find them creepy. I think they're neat!
• Once I start a project, I find it hard to not complete it. (Unless it's deep cleaning something. Sometimes that can get very overwhelming.)
• I have been involved with a lot of clubs all my life, including:
• Girl Scouts
• Campfire
• Volleyball
• Band
• Yearbook Committee (in middle and high school)
• Forensics Club
• PenPals (with local elementary students when I was at Eastern)
• Children's Lit Book Club (also at Eastern)
• COVID committee (at MCLS)
• Fanta-Sci Book club (at MCLS)
• Online Romantacy Book club (currently)
• Monroe Art League (currently)
• My Master's thesis was actually a creative project, where I created an entire world that fit inside an interactive book. (It was accompanied with a 30 page rationale, too, explaining the theory behind the creative project.)
• When I'm not busy with work, I have a multitude of hobbies outside of what I create for my side-job at craft shows: journaling, playing video games, reading, watching TV and movies, creating video montages, and most importantly, napping.
• I'm thorough, hard working, exceptionally easy to get along with, enjoy conversations with people, and try and learn from my mistakes as best as I can.

In short:

Anyway, pleased to meet ya!

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, feelings, concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.
It might take me 24 hours to respond, but I will. And I'll help you out best I can.

I'm here to try and be a good president of the Monroe Art League for the next year! And I can only do that if the people that I serve help me to be that. It takes a village, as they say, to make things work out. And I'm only as good as the people let me be.

So! I look forward to working with all of you for the next year.

2026: We Got This!