Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I was Born in Baltimore and I grew up in Towson, MD which is just outside of Bmore, until I was almost 10 years old.
Q: You’ve told me you’re a huge Orioles/Ravens fan. What is your favorite Baltimore sports memory?
A: Yes, huge Orioles fan! I actually have 3 favorite O’s memories. My first was as a little girl around 4 or 5, when my Father took me to my very first baseball game at Memorial Stadium. It was amazing, and ever since I have been a huge baseball fan. I love going to the games, even to this day, no matter the team. I also used to love playing baseball too. My dad bought me some Tee ball bats and we used to play together after college. We used to have so much fun playing together and practicing my batting technique. Baseball was a big part of my childhood if you couldn’t already tell! My second favorite memory was going to the World Series Game when the O’s lost to Pittsburg. We had the most amazing seats by 1st base. Despite loosing the Series, that game is forever in my memory, standing on the chairs screaming with the entire crowd. Third was when My father and I went to Camden Yards for the first time for a O’s game, I was simply blown away. Front row seats right behind the catcher. An amazing venue and coming back it simply felt like home, but even better.
I grew up in a time where Baltimore was known as Title Town having the Baltimore Colts and O’s, so when the Ravens came along many years later, I thought it was perfect time and the perfect choice to rename the team, perfect for obvious reasons. I have to say this staff and team all truly do “Play like a Raven.” I am in awe of Coach John Harbaugh. He is a class act in every sense of the word. I was lucky enough to meet him briefly and he exceeded my expectations. Meeting him is by far my favorite Ravens moment. More NFL teams should pay attention to this team system and professional work ethic. Starting from there drafting, which is a science in itself to the games and everything in between, this team runs a tight ship over at Under Armor. The stadium is amazing too. My first Ravens game was vs. The Patriots with my Dad, on a warm December day, so that is my 2nd favorite moment. Talk about a full circle moment for this Baltimore Baby!
Q: When did you receive your first camera? What kind was it?
A:I received my first camera from my Dad as a gift when I was 5 years old. We were at the Cape for our family summer vacation. It was a Kodak Master Instamitic X-15 Camera. I loved it and I was so excited when he gave it to me, since my father is a photographer as well. So in a sense he was passing the torch down, father to daughter. It was a great little camera, using real Kodak film with a flash. I took a ton of photos in Falmouth on the Cape – so this is where I began taking photos outside, landscapes and beaches, then taking photos of people and birds on the beach….and yes even my first selfie but with a fun twist, my feet showing off my new Pebbles Flip Flops.
Q: Why was it important for you to “follow the yellow brick road?”
A:The Wizard of Oz was such a huge part of my childhood (and still is today) and everytime I watched it I learned another message and life lesson. I never forgot that for Dorthy to follow the yellow brick road – her journey was filled with so many things that she had to go through. This was going to get her to Oz and then the great and powerful would get her back home to Kansas with her family. It was important to me to follow my own yellow brick road everyone’s journey is different but if you pay attention the lessons can be universal. Just like Dorothy – happy, scary, exciting, meeting new friends, fear of the witch, being brave, having fun, learning new things, fear of the unknown and so many more life lessons. Glinda was right and the lesson is true. I did have it all along. I had been through SO much in my life in my own journey. I had seen so many new places, new faces, and had so many experiences. I had then gone back to places I had been to before and truly had come full circle. I then finally realized too, that there is no place like home.
Q: When did you know you wanted to be an actress?
Very early in my life. In fact I wanted to be a singer and an actress. I would say around 4 years old I saw films on the big screen and movies and shows on TV and I thought – THIS is it. I want to do that. I want to act and sing and dance and make others feel they way they are making me feel. I took an acting class at camp in grade school and my theatre teacher gave me an amazing compliment and my confidence just blossomed even more. I thought if she thinks I am good, then I know now more than ever this is what I want to do. It was a great validation for me at such a young age. To this day when I am in the zone and acting, it is a great high for me. When I am doing anything creative and doing it well, I am truly happy.
Q: Did you select the photos for your book? Why Fells Point and The Inner Harbor?
A: This was a hard process. I had hundreds of photos to choose from over a 5 year period I had taken and I then had to narrow it down to 20 photos over only a few weeks. The good news was the ones I were choosing were only photos of roads that I had taken. I wrote the entire book after choosing all of my final photos.
The Inner Harbor is so special to me, one of my favorite places ever in Baltimore to go to. I went there with my family all the years of living in MD and even after I left I would go back when I could. This specific trip taking this Inner Harbor photo, I had not been back in many years. I went to The Top of the World Observatory at the Baltimore World Trade Center and I took the photo of the city intersection at Light Street. I realized at that moment looking over the whole the city that I had been born in, I grew up in, where my father worked at John’s Hopkins Hospital for so many years. My mother went to college at Goucher College (when it was all female) and then years later after my parents moved to Baltimore she attended Loyola College earning her Master’s Degree. My parents adored this city and the community, a very special place and time for all of us. The city I watched develop over my time there and then I had seen so many changes by visiting over the years, all for the better – just as I had. It was a great moment and a life metaphor to stand at the top of the building, to look out over all of Baltimore and realize all of this.
The Fells Point photo was a happy accident. I had not been to Fells Point since I was a young girl and this specific area and road really caught my eye. It was a gorgeous afternoon and no one was around. I knew after taking a few photos, that I had hit gold with the one I put in the book. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I took this photo. My tummy also tingles when I take a really great photo. I had realized in that moment of taking it, even more important life metaphors and a ah- ha moments for me – which I write about in the book. It was one of the most difficult and yet valuable lessons I had ever learned. I think it is one of the best photos in the book. If you look closely at the details of the photo and read that page carefully, they are some very personal messages there. Fells Point is such a historical and beautiful area of Baltimore. I love the history of this city and feel lucky to have started my life’s journey there. Being there and taking this photo was truly a magical moment for me. Baltimore and Towson are both so special to me, for so many reasons. I will always have such a special place in my heart for all of the wonderful memories of the time I spent there.
Q: What has been the response so far?
A: The response has been so wonderful so far, truly! I have gotten so many amazing reviews and 5 stars ratings on My Book’s Customer Review Page online via Xlibris, which is my Publishing Company. I have gotten emails for people as well, strangers, family and dear friends. Some of the best gifts has been when people have sent me photos of them with my book. I can’t tell you how amazing this has been. I was filled with happy tears seeing them posted on social media too. It has been really special getting some of these photos from friends back East who I grew up with. One of the first photos I got sent to me was from my dear friend Lance, from high school. He was one of the very first people to support my book’s social media page and then ordered a copy the day my book was released. He said when he got in the mail, he read it cover to cover and then immediately sent me a photo. I was skipping in the isle in a store here in LA and then I started to cry happy tears. It had become real, I was a published author and someone loved my work. I also got a fun photo of a hometown friend who read my book on his vacation in the Grand Cayman Islands, he sent a photo holding the book, sitting on the beach. That was so cool that he took my journey on his own. I thought, God, you never know where your work will end up, who will see it or how it will impact them. Socail Media has been a huge blessing for my book and I look forward to hearing from more readers. Alos seeing my book at Book Soup Bookstore here in LA on the Sunset Strip was an amazing feeling. I felt over the moon standing there seeing it ion the selves of my favorite LA bookstore. Doing this project was truly a labor of love and I hope to inspire everyone who has and will read it, in some way that will connect to their own journey.
Q: Any upcoming projects?
A: YES! I so hope that this book does well, so that I can turn it into a book series.
“Where will your next road take you?”…. in Boston and The Cape I am working on next later this year. Then hopefully those will do well to afford me to do more road books – Baltimore Roads, California Roads, and even European Roads. I would love to shoot photographs on roads in all of my favorite cities and be able to write about those journey’s as well. But for now I am working everyday to get the word out about this book. I welcome feedback, as this will help me with my writing and in choosing my photographs when I work on the other road books in the future. I am hopeful with each book, that I will keep getting better and better as an artist.
Another project I worked on recently was a small role on Pilot for a TV Sitcom called “The Plaza”, starring such a talented cast and a wonderful crew. I am hopeful it will get picked up as a series. It is such a wonderful blessing to get paid for being a funny. God willing, I will be able to keep working by doing ALL of my life’s passions; acting, writing, photography, voice over work and publishing more books.
Order a copy of “Where Will Your Next Road Take You?” HERE
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