Nearly eleven years of complex planning work for the Department of Defense has trained me to hold systems-level thinking, navigate multi-stakeholder environments, and translate dense, ambiguous information into clear and actionable decisions — skills I've carried directly into every design and research project I've led since. That background taught me that the best work happens when you understand not just what people need, but why, and how the systems around them either support or constrain that.
I believe art is a transformative means of communication within ourselves and our communities. Outside of my work with the Department of Defense, I've spent years building a parallel creative practice through my studio, wastelust. I have designed and facilitated applied neuroarts programs, organized large-scale participatory public art events, and exhibited installation and visual work at the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Hermitage Museum & Gardens, and in public contexts including Norfolk's Hague inlet waterway.
Recent work includes IMPROV-ing Emotional Wellness, a three-part community workshop series co-created with licensed clinicians with Watermark Psychological Services, designed at the intersection of improvisational theater and clinical mental health practice. Drawing on polyvagal theory and the neuroscience of play and co-regulation, the program created accessible community-embedded pathways to emotional well-being outside clinical settings. I also organized the Hague Parade, an inaugural floating art exhibition on Norfolk's Hague inlet, bringing together nine artist teams, two institutional partners, and hundreds of community members in a public experience rooted in relationship to place and water.
My research practice is informed by trauma-informed and somatic frameworks, applied neuroarts methodology, and the neuroscience of play and creativity. I hold a B.S. in Sustainable Business and Design and have completed certificate training through the Trauma Research Foundation, the Slow Factory Foundation, and Google's UX Design Foundations program.
Based in Norfolk, Virginia · Relocating