my story.

Many know me as the ’no flow, no glow’ esthetician. But that wasn’t always my approach. The first 9 of my 23 years of practice were much more conventional than wholistic. Though holistic is what I wanted to practice, I just didn’t know how at that point.
This changed while in acupuncture school. I dropped out halfway through the masters degree program because I couldn’t move past the nausea I felt while sticking needles in people.

However, being immersed for those years in that way of seeing the world changed the way I saw everything. Truly a life-changing experience. I see everything now as energy, and as flow vs stagnation. I also learned how our unprocessed, unacknowledged emotions affect our health at a foundational level, including that of our skin. And how deeply connected we are to nature.

And my educational journey continued…

lymph + skin.

During my last semester in acupuncture school, almost 14 years ago, I skipped classes for a week & attended my first Vodder Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD) class, with Gay Lee Gulbrandson; and later more Vodder classes with both her and Koby Blanchfield. It was lymph love at first site. It completely changed the way I looked at the skin, my clients were thrilled with their results, and it helped me find a new career path after dropping out of school.

somatic chinese medicine philosophy - the foundation of my practice.

The year before training in MLD, I finished a year-long training with Jade Adkins of The Tao of Bodywork, an ancient Chinese somatic-based bodywork. This training has deepened - and continues to deepen - the awareness and sensitivity of my hands and heart while working with the skin and the tissues that support it. It is the foundation of my skin care philosophy.

spa medicine.

Shortly after my first MLD class I came across an old world 'spa medicine' type of training (ASTECC). Something with which I’d always deeply resonated. I’ve learned so much from the program’s founder, Anne Bramham; her daughter, Leah Carver; and one of their talented trainers, Ashley Jo. From them I learned about the incredibly vast world of hydrotherapies, seaweed, transdermal nutrition, even more about the lymphatic system and other connective tissues…. so much. And also how our skin is so much more than is typically acknowledged.

whole plant skin nourishment.

And then shortly after that I came across Laurel Whole Plant Organics (back then it was called Sequoia Beauty), a whole new level of organic skin nourishment, created by Laurel Shaffer, a highly intuitive, skin-specific herbalist. Incorporating this product line into my clients' treatments and home care, I started to notice how the products we put on our skin can dramatically affect our superficial Lymphatic system, positively or negatively, depending on the ingredients and vitality that make up the formulation. My ideas about topical skin care completely changed. Over the last 12 years, I've learned so much from Laurel about topical whole plants and skin care. We've both had a great deal of influence on one another's work.

applying my Chinese Medicine education to facials.

And then, just a few years ago, while training with Dr. Ping Zhang for face Gua Sha, she asked me to become one of her gua sha esthetician teachers. Though I no longer teach for her, it was such an honor while I did, as her facial rejuvenation books that I read in acupuncture school helped me to see that I could apply what I had learned in school to my esthetician practice - sans needles. Her personal guidance and training over the last few years has been tremendously invaluable to me as well.

All the above support FLOW, rather than “flaws”.

And it’s all connected - qi, blood, lymph, emotions - it’s all about flow.

It all came together, the way I wanted to practice. My focus in the treatment room became all about nervous system calming, somatic, nature-connected, whole plant, “spa medicine”-inspired... And continues to grow even deeper into that every year.
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​The combination of what I've learned (and continue to learn) and embraced from the teachers above has inspired me to create the beauty and effectiveness of what you experience in your facial sessions with me - both in the treatment room and virtually.