Act 1

From a young age - I would pour over architecture magazines and draw up house plans. I loved discovering new places and relished being taken all over the Bay Area (San Fransisco Bay) as a young girl with parents who valued diversity, community, music, food, and art. With a mother from Hawaii and a father from Nevada, I was a product of generations who worked the land, sailed the seas, and rooted themselves in strong communities. Life was about relationships, love, and land.

Act 2

I studied Asian Art History and Asian Studies at the University of Oregon. I traveled to India, learned Hindi and French while pouring over ancient texts on Central Asian antiquities. I loved the art, crafts, and culture of the far east and tales of the Silk Road, a cultural and social artery spreading stories, spices, and ideas over thousands and thousands of miles. I loved the philosophy and mystical spirit that was embedded and expressed through the arts. I loved that spices, stews, and communion traveled in the hearts and souls of people via food.

Ready to pivot from books and academia, upon graduating I decided to start farming. Accepting an internship which turned into 5 years of being outside. It was a homecoming. I learned and mastered seeding, composting, pruning, harvesting, preservation. In learning to grow plants, I grew into parts of myself I’d yet to discover.

Twenty years later it remains the core of mine and my family’s life. I’ve studied, taught and lived this. Gardening, small scale organic farming, environmental education for junior high students, advanced study in Ayurvedic medicine, botany, aromatherapy, herbal studies have enriched my life. So it is without coincidence that year after year I plant seeds, water, harvest, and gather. It is a life choice, born from the manifesto: get me out of my head and into my hands and heart.

The study of art and spirit came alive through my work as naturalist, farmer, herbalist, cook. Ultimately the gardens became the architecture which framed my life and home.

What was rooted very early in my life in turn became a lifestyle.

Act 3

I studied Ayurveda, became an Ayurvedic Practitioner, a licensed massage therapist, 200YTT yoga teacher and worked as a Panchakarma practitioner at Vasant Lad’s MAS Ayurvedic Institute. Teaching, offering treatments, and advanced herbal studies became my life. I apprenticed with Sonia Masocco and Bert Norgordon.

I don't apply Ayurveda in the 'clinical' sense anymore, rather in how I live with the world and assist others if interested. I’ve found the power and mystery to reside in the how we can connect to the energies of the natural world. My work focuses on integration, receptivity, restoring connection and relationship.

I channeled my experience of people and plants by working with Banyan Botanicals; deepening the roots of the wholesale community and later managed product development and innovation, as well as product responsibility. I dug the world of manufacturing and product packaging. I learned a ton regarding supply chain, herbs, compliance, and certifications. I expanded my resources and rolodex.

All of this gives my work a unique approach. I began to write, strategize and assist others in organizing and designing content. Now I’m building a community of my own. I’m the designer and creator behind Surround. With decades under my belt, I am excited to integrate it and offer it to you.

What you receive is an exceptional eye for detail, spatial dynamics and positioning.

Yet, three things continue to run deep over the course of my life; art, plants, and being outside. From what I have come to know and experience thus far, they are my greatest teachers. It’s this wisdom I want to share.