Pronouns:
She/her/hers

Sandboxes played in:
Singer + Actor + Educator

Degrees & Certifications: 
BM, Voice, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University
EMT-C, Estill Master Teacher Candidate, Estill Voice Training
Teacher Training Certificate, MICHA: the Michael Chekhov Association - in progress
Completed Prerequisites for Teacher Certification in Knight-Thompson Speechwork

Affiliations:
Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA)
Voice and Speech Teachers Association (VASTA)
Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA)
Artist-in-Residence at Cloud County Theatre, Fall 2020 - Secret Garden (virtual), Lily

What do you teach:
Voice (singing, all genres: speciality in musical theatre, opera, jazz, pop, and rock styles), voice (speech), acting, piano & musicianship for singers, musical theatre

Teaching Philosophy, in a nutshell:
“I do not teach cookie cutter voices, I teach thumbprint voices.” -Matthew Chellis
In bemoaning the fact that I did not sound like other sopranos, my college voice teacher served me with this gem. It has carried me through my educational career and was the inspiration for the name of our studio. Our voice is such a personal aspect of us and sharing it can be a hugely scary experience. I want each of my students to walk out of my studio with a new understanding of the workings of their individual bodies and the confidence that they can make bold and exciting artistic choices.

Most memorable performance:
I also have two (we probably should have changed it to two memorable performances but I think the fact that we didn’t speaks to both of our personalities)
1. Singing Verdi’s Requiem to honor the memory of those lost at the Terezin concentration camp with over 100 holocaust survivors in the audience. The most emotional performance of my life.
2. Working with South Shore Opera on the Chicago premiere of Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom. I was surrounded by amazing artists and got the opportunity to be a tiny part in a piece written, directed, and performed by people of color. To see a generational story told through the lens of those it belongs to is a beautiful experience.

Most embarrassing performance moment:
Gracefully walking out on to stage in an enormous white dress while playing Lily from The Secret Garden only to discover that the bottom had snagged on a pin sticking out of the curtain I just came from. The actor playing Dicken had to rush on stage to unhook me before I could continue singing the final (super romantic) ballad from the show. Total mood killer.

Something we wouldn’t know if you didn’t tell us:
I am a city person through and through and would not permanently live anywhere smaller than a major metropolitan area. I have lived in Chicago for a total of 11 years now and I love every day of it (except those days in the winter, you know the ones). However, the first 19 years of my life were spent living on an 88 acre farm in the middle of nowhere in rural Indiana. I grew up riding tractors, canning food from our gardens, and going mushroom hunting in the woods around our house. My neighbors were all family and my maternal grandmother and both great-grandmothers lived within 5 minutes from me. Some of my random hobbies include baking Depression-era recipes passed down from said great-grandmothers, hand-stitching embroidery, and dreaming about keeping chickens in the backyard when I have one.