“Stories are medicine. I have been taken with stories since I heard my first. They have such power; they do not require that we do, be, act, anything -- we need only listen.” ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés
I grew up in a small town in Eastern Kentucky, loving both music and learning from my elders. My grandpa filled my ears and mind with stories that were sung from his lips and instilled in me the desire to find my own songs and ways of expressing them. I graduated from Western Kentucky University with degrees in Theater Performance and Community-Based Arts with a minor in Music Performance, where my work was deeply rooted in community-based performance. I’m also finishing my Masters degree in Arts and Cultural Policy and Management at Pratt Institute.
The way I perform and think creatively comes from a love of magic making and looking at the different ways things can converge. My bread and butter are stories told through song. I like to reimagine those songs, as a composer and musician, with different motifs or sounds we don’t always associate with music. To me, this is the way that we can look at the folklore of our ancestors and help people of today still see themselves within the same magic. As storytellers, we have the opportunity to breathe life into the traditions of our past and pave the way for the future with empathy and joy.
Creating and facilitating spaces has always come natural to me, which is why I co-founded Cardinal Cross Arts Collective with Amy Brooks back in 2019, to create a platform to explore Appalachian Identity through music, theater, and mixed media.
Right now, I’m practicing as a storyteller, teaching music lessons on the side, doing research on the relationship between community healing and clowns, and imagining programs, opportunities, and how music can build healthy and sustainable communities at Freshgrass Foundation as their Director of Programs, Grants, and Ventures.