Initially I was studying biology, wrists deep in anatomy 101, interning as a Care Extender at the UCLA Santa Monica medical center, side-by-side doctors delivering babies.... I just couldn't do it. I was too emotional if there were complications. It was difficult to admit that after 3 years, all its luster and idealized prestige had worn off. As fabulous as I looked in a pair of scrubs, I said goodbye to medicine. Not forever though.

I took all the reasons I loved biology, and enrolled in a sculpting class at SMC; the idea of still being "hands on" was very important to me, but with no rhyme or reason, I bought my first 60 lb chunk of alabaster stone and sat with it. Carving a bit each day, trying to wrap around the form I saw inside my head, the form I was trained to distinguish, and now the form I was intended to create. It felt like patting your head and rubbing circles on your belly in unison--very disorienting, and ungraceful at first attempt. but once you get a rhythm, it's addicting.