Everybody eats. I also cook, write and design.
My love of food
Most people love food. In my family, however, we live to eat. At holidays, we don’t drink. We eat. The taste is so good you cannot stop at “full.” This can sometimes cause problems–I was first diagnosed with high cholesterol in my mid-20s! Food is a powerful force in our society; ignoring that fact does damage to all of us. I firmly believe that you can be addicted to food in a way that resembles other types of addictions.
Over the years, I’ve found strength and learned to take what for me tastes like comfort food and rework it so I can still eat it. All in all, it’s about choosing healthier foods, but a great deal of my focus has been in healing my troubled relationship with food. That healing process still takes place every single day.
I worked in a kitchen for three years in college. I still rank it as one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. The people, the food, the atmosphere–the only downside was how much time I spent trying to keep my nails and skin clean. Oh yeah, and my tired feet at the end of a long shift…
The ‘me’ behind the food
Food passion aside, I’ve been writing and reading for what feels like my entire life. Stories, plays, articles, poetry, blogs, brochures–if you can categorize it, I’ve written it. Until about five years ago when I also started working in visual mediums to expand my story arsenal–adding graphic design, photography, videography and animation (now all my preferred mediums because people’s attention spans have shortened).
With such a broad skillset and desire to work on all different kinds of projects, I left my communications manager role to pursue life as an independent consultant and content creator. Now I get to focus on creating specialized kinds of visual content: explainer videos, presentations, posters, ebooks, bookmarks and many other different things. I’m never afraid to conquer a challenge, and this has been so instrumental in helping me grow personally, professionally and creatively. I’m lucky to be where I am because I have a wonderful liberal arts college degree (two, actually, since I got my Masters as well)–where I majored in Russian literature (but took a smattering of other stuff! In other words, I never stop striving to make what I do better.
Global citizen
I’m a bit of a globetrotter–I always say I’ve felt free to travel the world because I feel so much love and connection to my family regardless of where I am. It’s like that e.e. cummings poem “i carry your heart with me.” I will admit that sometimes globetrotting leaves me feeling chipped away at–leaving a little bit of my soul behind wherever I go–but at the same time, it opens up more room inside of me to grow.
I lived in Russia for 3 years attending university and working, while delighting in carb heaven at kroshka kartoshka, chebureki, and Teremok. I was last back in 2014 to film a documentary in Siberia with my partner. I’m greatly saddened by what is going on in that country now and the deteriorating relations between our countries.
I attended grad school and also worked in Toronto, Canada from 2009 to 2015, where I made a lot of lifelong friends and ate some of the best meals in my life. Toronto is a foodie city with awesome restaurants, international chefs and citizens who love to eat.
Since the end of 2015, I’ve been in Vancouver, Canada breathing the best air in the world, taking the most scenic walks in the world and enjoying the freshest sushi in the world. I’ve learned this is an amazing place to call home, but I still get out every chance I get.