My company & title is…. Music Together in Phoenix, Center Director
A typical day in my life includes… I like to start my day with 5:30 Pilates or yoga, walking my dog and tending my chickens & backyard garden. After some yummy avocado toast, I get to teach a few mornings per week, and if I am not teaching, I head into my home office. It is fun to have a few afternoons of teaching Rhythm Kids and Guitar for Grownups, and also heading out to ASU for our preschool music. In between teaching is typical office work and visiting our teacher’s classes, networking or checking on our locations. It is also super fun to go to Tuesday night’s East Coast Swing at Fatcats! It feels like every day is different, and every day is a new adventure!
My favorite thing about living/working in the North 32nd area is… hiking in the mountains, my friends and neighbors (32Shea, Sala, Joybus), and all the memories of raising children & chickens here. I love seeing the area get even better with our restaurants and it feels like an even closer community!
My favorite movie I could never get tired of watching and why… “Princess Bride”; I love the humor, the amazing cast of characters, and the great lines!
My family…is physically far apart (one daughter is in Colorado and one is in Australia), but we are still super close and talk frequently. It’s fun to visit them, and when they occasionally come home. I am excited that my children are discovering who they are and exploring their possibilities!
The business lesson I learned the hard way is…anything that involves a computer! I am lucky to get help from my husband, mentors and teachers on our staff!
One thing I cannot live without…dark chocolate and my ukulele! Last year, I was late to catch a flight heading to Sayulita on a ‘girls trip’, and I couldn’t check my big suitcase, so I only grabbed a small beach bag of goodies and my uke as carry-on for that week. It worked!
When I was younger, I wanted to be…junior high band director just like the great one I had! I taught a little bit of band, and a lot of general music, and discovered that early childhood is wildly important as a foundation of all later music-making (and it’s fun)!
The song I would sing at Karaoke night is…”Tom’s Diner” (acapella)
The one person who motivates me is…my husband, Peter! He works hard; he genuinely cares for people; he is wicked smart and can build or fix (or YouTube) anything; he is strong like ox and can swim like a dolphin; he can sleep anywhere/anytime (sometimes I don’t like this part), and he’s extra fun at parties!
The last thing that made me laugh out loud was… discovering that I taught a whole morning with my shirt inside out, which I only discovered towards the end of my last class!
The perfect day would be…getting up (not before the sun) and taking a long bicycle ride to a park for yoga, and then to a yummy restaurant to meet some friends, followed by a sweet massage. After arriving back home to find that some sweet elf had weeded the garden, turned the compost, and tended the chickens, I would play with my little dog for a while before heading out to lead a big HAPPY class of families, singing, dancing, drumming and jamming!! I would come home for a delicious lunch with my husband and then get to go surfing in the afternoon for a few hours (desert surfing?), followed by a bit of a ukulele jam with friends and their children. This perfect day would end with a little glass of happy hour and laughs with friends; a light dinner under the stars, and then swing dancing with my husband.
My first job was… scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins at the old WestTown, off I17, at the age of fifteen.
My life… is fun, very full, and adventurous!
I’m currently working on… learning to harmonize and be an effective leader in my organization; I am taking voice lessons and love learning new swing dance moves with my guy. I am also learning to be a better surfer.
The best gift I’ve ever received was…a homemade penny necklace from my husband on our 22ndAnniversary with five pennies: 1965 (my birthday), 1966 (my husband’s birthday), 1991 (our anniversary year), 1995 (our first daughter’s birthday) and 1997 (our youngest daughter’s birthday); it was so creative and thoughtful!
The actor I would want to play me in a movie of my life is…Exene Cervenka (if she acted)
My dream vacation would be to… travel on a sailboat around the world!
My words of wisdom to aspiring business owners… I think it’s important to balance working and playing! If I work through too many weekends, I am not a happy teacher for my families. I love teaching and leading Music Together in Phoenix, and I also love getting to have time with family and friends!
