Philosophy

Communication has always been very important to me. Ever since I was a little girl, I struggled with anxiety if my mom or dad didn’t answer their phones when I called or I could not get in touch with someone close to me. For me, communication is the key to a happy and secure life. On my own, much of my personal enjoyment comes from my visual creativity, which I communicate through fashion, style, and design. Since I’ve lived in Los Angeles my whole life, the entertainment industry has provided a focal point to those three artistic media. As I have matured, outgrowing my childhood anxieties, I’ve also expanded my geographic horizons. By attending Syracuse University, taking a semester abroad in Spain, and interning in New York City, all on my own without the safety net presence of family, my whole world has opened up, allowing me to think ahead and plan a career and life after so many years of schooling. To my great surprise, I love being independent and taking on the challenge of a fast-paced metropolis.

At the same time, I keep my Los Angeles family roots close to me as a source of inspiration. I think of my grandmother whose lifelong habit was to rise every morning, peruse her closet, and select a “classy” outfit as she called it that would carry her through her day no matter what she had on her schedule. I vividly remember as a little girl going “shopping” in that closet. I would play dress up, parading around in all her fancy clothes and accessories. I associate my love of clothes and design to my grandmother, who often spent time with me, showing me how to put an outfit together, appreciating each fabric and pattern. She taught me that the literal and figurative materialism of clothes was secondary to the formation of an identity that clothes gave me that set me apart from others.

My family background, a blend of continents and cultures, has also colored my own journey to this point and helped me transform into a comfortable, competent adult. My mother is all-American. My father is European to the core, having been born in Denmark, making his career in international shipping. I view myself as a hybrid, combining the often-opposite aspects of both nationalities, socially outgoing and overtly emotional with more quiet, almost introverted observation. Despite my aversion to being alone as a child, I have traveled the world with my family, absorbing their strength and enthusiasm as we visited Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain, and France. If for no other reason than to prove to myself that I was ready to go somewhere on my own, while as teen I trekked to Cambodia for a month to help rebuild a school for orphaned children.

Every one of these significant events and important people have influenced my perspective and my goals, affirming where my interests lie and how I communicate them in my choice of career and personal passion. While the externals of life seem to supply an outer coating or identity, in fact I see the appearance of people and objects as their main tool of communication. Fashion, style, and design may be idle fads to some people, but to me they signify history, culture, economics, and an artful way to describe both their place and their function in society. The wide reach of the entertainment industry through film and television serves to disseminate those messages while also immortalizing them to be studied, often cyclically repeated, and remembered.