“I am the oldest of seven children, raised in a highly creative, intellectual environment steeped in medicine, philosophy, art and yoga. In the mid 1970s, my parents—a doctor and a musician—decided to leave their comfortable, conventional life and move our family to the wilderness of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains to create an existence based less on materialism and more on nature and simplicity. We lived in a two-bedroom home with a wood-burning stove, and I rode horses bareback to school, where I wrote poetry, read Sanskrit texts and made stained glass. This period had an enormous impact on my life.

Fast forward to the 1990s, when I have a highly successful, fast-paced career in the healthcare communications field. Within eight years, I tragically lost my mom, dad and younger brother. These early deaths and life-defining moments were catalysts for me to change my path. They challenged me to never sleepwalk through life.

I live with my husband and teenaged son (both techies and musicians) in Austin, Texas and Western North Carolina. I love dancing, yoga, making soup with local veggies for friends and family and taking long, meandering hikes to magical natural settings.”