Welcome! I've organized this site so you can get to know me a bit. As you can see from my professional bio below, I don't draw much of a line between my personal passions and my professional career. I neither know how or care to. The purpose of this site is both to advance my work and create openings for engaging others.
My professional Bio:
I was the Co-Founder of Dancing Deer Baking Company which I led as CEO until I stepped out in 2010 to pursue my interests in nutrition, sustainability, social justice and dematerialization which led to the founding LightEffect Farms, a venture in Urban Agriculture.
In my painting life I particularly love to work en plein aire and catch the slanting colorful light of late afternoon or the early miracle of sunrise. Deer Isle, ME.
I have had a career of business challenges in unexplored territory – my comfort zone. I jumped from High School to Wheaton College at age 16. Then with sufficient credits to graduate with high honors, I left early again to help my parents survive bankruptcy. They had successfully pioneered industrial solutions for post-consumer bottle & can recycling which are still in effect today. Other ventures included: leading the beverage industry to embrace mandatory deposit laws; attempting to finance the first Direct Broadcast Satellite TV system; pioneering a new real estate finance vehicle; developing a pre-GPS consumer product (failure is instructive).
Roasted Root Vegetables are way near the top of my favorite foods list - they share space with things like dark chocolate and, oh gosh, if I start listing the beautiful things to eat...
Years after earning an MBA (Yale ’82) I set aside business to pursue art, my first love, and spent five years studying the effect of sunlight on natural forms. An unintended turn of events led to a return to entrepreneurship, where originally with partners, then on my own, built Dancing Deer into one of the most respected natural food brands and a leader in triple bottom line practice. Whether in business or art, creating positive environmental and social impact has been a lifelong passion of mine.
I have received honorary Doctorates from Bentley College McCallum Graduate School, Wheaton College and Pine Manor College - in principle for my accomplishments as mother, entrepreneur, activist and artist. In my next chapter I hope to fully earn those distinctions. I serve on several Boards and am involved in many progressive initiatives.
On this ride the greatest challenge was not physical, but emotional. Engaging each night with homeless families in shelter - and absorbing the stories of struggle and hope - was powerful and heartbreaking.
Proud and extreme Brag: In 2009 I rode my bicycle (1500 miles/15 days) from Atlanta to Boston and from one homeless shelter to another. Each evening, while decorating Gingerbread houses together with families living in shelter, I learned about and publicized the face of homelessness while advocating for practical solutions. Dancing Deer donates 35% of its Sweet Home Gift line revenues to fund scholarships for at risk mothers.
My kids and I aren't usually in such dramatic places though we would like to be! In this shot we had just survived what felt like an overly exposed moment of terror and were feeling very glad to be back on solid footing. Which seems an apt complement to my closing paragraph at left.
I love to engage people in positive thinking, solve problems, embrace nature, dance, race bicycles, make art, have fun and be productive and creative every day. My two children, Eleanna and Dimitri, are by far my greatest joy and proudest moment.
And in case this bio seems braggish I would like to balance that out with a note that I have had more than a lifetime's collection of defeats, failures, moments and whole extended periods of idiocy, foolishness, falls from grace and generally bollixed, twisted, upside down episodes. I have been punished for my hubris and though I try to avoid it, no doubt will be again. I endeavor to be constantly in pursuit of wisdom through learning and reflection. I am an optimist.