When I sit down with someone that I’m meeting for the first time, I often start with, “Tell me your story. Where’d you come from and how’d you get here?” So I’ll tell you mine.

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I was born and raised in Indiana and grew up in a musical household. I was singing before I could talk and started dancing at age 3. My middle school didn’t have a dance team, so I started one. My high school dance team had been dissolved a couple years prior to my arrival, so I re-started that one too. All the while, I was being recruited to play basketball and to be the next drum major, but I just wanted to dance and sing. I used to say if I could just dance and sing behind Bernadette Peters, I’d be the happiest person on the planet.

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A proud alumna of Terre Haute North Vigo High School (Go Patriots!), I went on to study Theater at Indiana State University (Go Trees!). I discovered Stage Management the first semester my freshman year. I continued to study Music and Dance, but I knew I had found what I was supposed to do as a career...for a while ;) 

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I worked regionally across the country, helped build up a new regional theater in Florida, then moved to New York City in 2013. I built a great career in my first seven years doing everything from continuing to work regionally, to working showcases to Broadway and doing events and galas. Obviously, that all changed in March, 2020. ​

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It was the first time I learned what rest was. I learned what prioritizing my family felt like. I embraced my love of travel. So when things started to come back, I made different choices. I was very specific about the rooms I chose to be in. I took time off between shows to travel and see my family. It made a huge difference in my mental health and happiness. 

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In 2022, my Dad got sick. He made his last trip to New York that Spring and didn't even get to see the show I was doing as we had to cancel opening due to a Covid outbreak. Luckily, he got to stream my last Broadway show in the Fall of '23 <3 I closed that show and took the holidays off to spend with my parents in FL. In December, the show I was supposed to return to NYC for was aggressively taken away from me (the joys of commercial theater) so I stayed! More shows were offered and swept away. No one wanted to hire a Stage Manager that prioritized family or time off. So I stayed!

 

In January of '24 I started my Travel Business - Choose Joy Adventures! I am now an Independent Travel Advisor and can help you and yours with any of your travel needs - international or domestic! I specialize in cruise and adventure travel. I love itinerary planning! But if all you need is a hotel in Boise for a night, I got you! 

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Life is a journey, and I am in the middle of a big sea change. Remote work, nomadic lifestyle, prioritzing my loved ones. Maybe some stage managing here and there? Come along for the ride!