I was born on May 22, 2000, and I live in Fishers, Indiana. I attended Fishers High School until my senior year, when I transferred to Hope Academy. After graduating from high school, I attended St. Joseph’s College of Marian University, where I earned my Associate degree in liberal arts. I am now double-majoring in both art and design and public health.
While I was young, my parents recognized my ability to be creative, and my grandmother was an astute artist who showed me how to paint and think about the world through a creative lens. My grandmother was the first to introduce me to art through art magazines, her own paintings, and Bob Ross, and I vividly remember being encouraged after watching his TV shows. After taking lessons and courses in school, I developed my abilities and knowledge of art, appreciating the praise I received for my work. My very first exhibition was at a Yogi Frozen Yogurt restaurant when I was in 6th grade, where I made over $750 for my paintings. Understandably, at this stage, I still did not realize how passionate I was about art as a career.
While I was young, and even to this day, my parents have always taken my brother and I on vacations during breaks in school, which helped me to develop a strong sense of adventure. The numerous vacations we went on as a family, and the memories we shared together, had an enormous impact on my appreciation for traveling and the natural world.
In college at St. Joseph’s, I was primarily focused on general studies while working part-time in their program known as the Earn and Learn Program. I began to take my career more seriously, but it was not until after earning my Associate degree that I realized I wanted to pursue art as a career. I ended up making a complete U-turn when considering the time required to finish my degree. I decided it was worth a few more years to complete my Bachelor's in art and design to get the education I needed to succeed in a career that was fulfilling to me. As a full-time junior at Marian University, I had to start fresh and take both art and design classes while pursuing my second major in public health. My reasoning behind achieving a second major was to apply my design skills in ways that make a positive contribution to society and the health of communities. Both my strengthening interests in art and design, and my drive for adventure and health, lead me to do what I do currently.
Today, I have been practicing and developing my design skills as much as possible to keep my mind, my creativity, and my skills sharp, so that I may pursue a career that brings me this fulfillment. I have begun taking on projects outside of college, and will be completing an internship as I near the end of my studies at Marian. As I close in, I will also be developing a senior project about parks in Indiana. I will host an exhibition where I apply media production and painting to create engaging content that ideally inspires nature lovers to enjoy the great outdoors. I aim to motivate others to preserve what they can in nature by capturing nature's beauty. In a perfect world, I look forward to creating engaging content in many places all throughout the world to really make a difference, all while enjoying my favorite activities.