I spent much of my twenties and thirties photographing people and places I encountered on my travels.

Though many of these connections happened decades ago, they’re still vivid in my memory, thanks to these photos that revive forgotten feelings and bring those moments back to life.

To journey with me on some of my travels, click on the photo collage above.

Clockwise from top left: Southern India 2010, China with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh 1995, Swat Valley Pakistan 1989, Yunan Province China 1990

I especially love photographing people and animals—living beings with individual looks, personalities, and essences they generously share with me when I photograph them.

Each photograph becomes an imprint of their spirit in that exact place and moment in time, forever captured in an image.

In the early nineties, I worked for a small portrait company, traveling around Northern California taking family portraits for church directories and preschools. I photographed thousands of families from every race, socioeconomic class, and denomination you can imagine. It was fascinating, exhausting, and an incredible way to learn the tricks of the trade.

By 2000, when I became a parent, my lifestyle had become more compact. As my international travels became less frequent, I turned my camera to the people I saw daily—family and friends.

I volunteered to do school photos for my daughter’s preschool, all one hundred kids, and I loved it! I used black-and-white film and created beautiful individual portraits of each child. It was a Montessori school in San Francisco, so the kids spent much of their time playing outdoors. I wandered around with them for weeks, capturing genuine expressions—no cheesy smiles for these school photos!

When some of the parents inquired about family sessions, I realized the value of what I was creating and started charging for my work.

Most of the portraits I took during that first decade were of children and families. All of that changed in 2012, when I met my portrait photography mentor, Sue Bryce.

Much of what I now cherish in portraiture is thanks to the guidance of this powerhouse educator. Not only did I learn to elevate my business, but I also discovered the profound importance of photographing women.

All too often, women—myself included—are conditioned to focus the camera on our kids, leaving little thought for capturing our own essence. As a result, we miss the chance to celebrate ourselves through beautiful portraits.

Women, especially as we age, deserve to be seen, celebrated, and empowered through photography. It’s become my mission to offer as many women as possible the transformative experience of an empowering photoshoot—because every woman deserves to have incredible photos of herself!

To see more of my work and learn more about the photoshoot experience that I offer, click on the above photo collage to be brought to a digital version of my magazine.

Like photographs, words carry energy and power.

I discovered their capacity to heal when I faced a cancer diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic shutdown. The vast landscape of emotions I experienced would have overwhelmed me if I hadn’t expressed them in writing. Putting words to vague feelings and thoughts helped me make sense of what I was going through.

Happily, I’m now cancer-free and more committed than ever to exploring my inner world through words. After discovering the transformative power of writing, I embraced an exciting opportunity in 2024 to become a published author.

Alongside a group of professional women, I contributed a chapter to Divorce Decoded: A Manifesto for Women Navigating Divorce & Beyond. In my chapter, I encourage readers to see themselves as more than just their divorce story, sharing insights from my own journey of healing, not from divorce but from ovarian cancer.

Anyone going through a transition (and isn’t that all of us?) might find meaning in what I’ve written. Plus, our book is now a best seller in the women in business category on Amazon!

If you’d like to learn more, there’s a link below to a recording of me reading my chapter, The Path to Power: Balancing Your Feminine With Your Masculine.

I had such a wonderful conversation with Jessica Weaver and Donna Cates on the Women Behind the Millions podcast! It’s a rare treat to dive into topics that mean so much to me: shifting from self-judgment to self-love, the power of seeing your authentic self in photographs, some beautiful insights from Taoism, and so much more.

If you'd like to watch the interview, just click on the photo above to head over to YouTube!

Annie Leibovitz is one of the most influential portrait photographers of our time, and I absolutely adore her work.

At an event in New York City in 2017, I had a chance for a playful exchange with her during the Q&A session. Two questions before mine the person asked if she ever felt starstruck, and Annie shared a story about how it’s hard not to be a bit in awe when you’re in a car with Bruce Springsteen.

So when it was my turn, I opened by admitting how starstruck I was with her, since she’s my idol. And boy, did she tease me for that!

To see my interaction with Annie Leibovitz, click on the photo collage above to be brought to YouTube, and scrub to around minute 56:16.

This is me with Sue Bryce, the portrait photographer and mentor that I mentioned earlier. Not only has she guided my technical skills, she has inspired how I connect with my clients, which has been such a gift.

Along with the tens of thousands of other photographers that she has coached, I’ve learned how to lift the confidence of my clients and truly celebrate them through a personalized photoshoot.

In the summer of 1992, while I was living in France, my twin sister came to visit and suggested we visit a Buddhist practice center in the south called Plum Village. The first thing we saw upon arrival was a handwritten sign that read, 'I have arrived, I am home'. My body relaxed and I felt immediately at peace, and that was my introduction to Thích Nhất Hạnh and his teachings of engaged Buddhism.

Thay, as he is lovingly called by his students, is a Vietnamese monk, peace activist, author, poet, and renowned teacher of mindfulness. Through his gentle presence and simple yet profound teachings, he brought the Buddha’s wisdom into our modern world.

At the end of that retreat, so many summers ago, Thay asked us to write him a letter explaining why we wanted to receive the Five Mindfulness Trainings, rooted in the Buddha’s Five Precepts. When I shared my aspirations with him, he gave me the dharma name Great Action of the Heart.

I strive to honor this name as mindfully as I can, both in my daily life and in my work. Each of us is a special and worthy human being. By tenderly holding space for the person in front of me, I hope to help them touch that wisdom within themselves—and share it with the world.