I was born in the port city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, into a lineage of women with European roots and a rich culture in cooking, knitting and home remedies. At age three I immigrated to the United States with my parents and older brother.
As a freshman in high school, I was encouraged to join SPEECH club, probably due to my quiet and shy temperament. Of the three options: Drama, Debate & Storytelling, the latter felt the least intimidating. The children's book I choose to memorize was The Giving Tree. The year was 1978, before any controversy had arisen over that book, and I somehow excelled at telling the story.
In sophomore, or maybe junior year, my art teacher Miss Hunter, enrolled me in Saturday art classes at ArtCenter College of Design. It was both an inspiring and exhilarating experience as a shy high school student. Thinking back on this now, a realization has dropped in that at this point in my path, I possessed a very strong sense of self and following what inspired me.
Although I had not heard of ArtCenter until Miss Hunter mentioned the school, it called to my future self. Every Saturday morning I would get in my red VW bug and make the trek out to Pasadena to attend drawing classes at this prestigious school. The weekly classes provided a construct to begin building a portfolio with the intention of attending ArtCenter right out of high school. It was not meant to be, my portfolio wasn't quite polished enough, so instead, I enrolled in a High School Summer Program at the competitive school, Otis/Parsons, located in downtown LA. Upon completing the program I was encouraged to apply for the Fall Semester, which I did, earning a scholarship.
During my second year attending Otis, an very enthusiastic and passionate instructor, whom I admired immensely, noticed the tiny, personal drawings in my sketchbook. He championed me to draw from my heart, so I did. That teachers name was Larry Carroll, eventually he would establish himself in the fine art world and known as Lawrence Carroll. Larry suggested I enter my illustrations into the student section of the prestigious American Illustration book. I once again followed his advice and out of seven of the illustrations accepted, five of them were published in the book.
One year later, with my BFA and having taught at my alma mater in both the summer & Illustration programs, I leaped off of my first metaphorical cliff, and moved to NYC with my boyfriend, and future first husband Ben Neuhart. Almost immediately after arriving I began to show my portfolio around and started getting work as a freelance illustrator for magazines and newspapers. Eventually I would discover my niche in the health and wellness sector, expanding into licensing and advertising, and earning awards.
After five years, with success and accolades, a husband, and strong desire to live a more suburban life, Ben and I moved back to LA and I soon gave birth to my daughter Eve. Three years later my life fell apart, in those broken pieces I had the opportunity to align my deeply with my heart. Several re-birthing sessions, sweat lodges and an initiation to shamanism set me on track with working more intimately with nature in the form of essential oils. I transitioned from teaching illustration to aromatherapy, and realizing that my purpose was intimately connected to facilitating an intimate connection to the natural world and storytelling.
In an era where humanity seems to be hurling itself toward the synthetic realm, I stand tall like a tree, firmly rooted in the splendor of nature, and reaching upwards toward the heavens to illuminate and champion our essential nature.
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