For the first six years of my life I suffered from chronic ear infections. This adverse affect on my hearing impacted my speech development and auditory processing ability. Not surprisingly, learning and behavioral challenges followed me into my adolescence. In my early twenties I struggled with trauma related mental health issues and battled severe depression.

Creativity proved to be my only real way to communicate and make sense of the world around me. In 2005, a significant turning point in my life occurred when I started recognizing how the creative arts could be for used for healing purposes. While living and working at a treatment center in Southern Arizona, I was asked to design and build an art therapy room. Their emphasis was on psycho-social development to enhance individual physical and emotional health. In 2015, I began exploring different ways to integrate this information and research into vibrant structures that could empower
positive change.

Aesthetic Vanguard
emerged out of this journey.