From shy beginnings to the spotlight
Performance has been woven into my life since childhood. I started piano at six. By eight I’d joined a church choir and discovered how much I loved to sing. For all that early love of music, I was a painfully shy, introverted kid, often feeling like one of the misfits from the Island of Misfit Toys.
Worried about my shyness, my parents took the advice of a relative, a gifted actress, and enrolled me in an after-school program at a local community theater. They had no idea it would change my life.
In the theater I found my tribe, a group of performers who, like me, had felt like misfits everywhere else. That community helped me come into my own. It built my confidence and sharpened my talent. By high school I knew I wanted a career in performance, and I focused on singing. I went to Florida State University to study voice.
After my undergraduate degree, I took a short break before heading to the University of South Carolina for graduate work in theater, with an emphasis on directing and dramaturgy.
My parents were supportive, though they quietly worried about a future in the arts. Yet here I am, decades later, still in it, as an actor, singer, director, producer, and arts presenter. My story is a small testament to passion and persistence.