About
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Leadership experience
For eight years, I served as Executive and Artistic Director of Tacoma Refugee Choir, founding and guiding a small start-up into a nationally recognized organization.
During that time, we:
• Raised more than $2 million in contributed revenue
• Performed for over 50,000 audience members
• Built measurable impact around belonging and resilience
• Successfully transitioned leadership beyond the founding director
For this work, I was recognized with awards including:
• Chorus America’s Louis Botto Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• American Academy of Teachers of Singing Award for Inspiration and Inclusion
• Seattle Reign and Starbucks Legend Award
• 253 Magazine Person of the Year
• South Sound Magazine Women to Watch
• PBS Women to Admire
The growth did not come from chasing trends. It came from clarity, understanding how our artistic work met the needs of the moment.
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Academic and artistic work
I currently serve on the faculty at the University of Puget Sound, where I direct Puget Sound Singers in the School of Music. I maintain a small private voice studio and continue to perform regionally with orchestras and chamber ensembles. These activities sustain me and keep me grounded in the realities artistic leaders face every day.
My academic training includes an MBA in Arts Innovation from the Global Leaders Institute and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Puget Sound.
Why I do this work
Arts organizations are navigating structural change.
Audience behavior has shifted.
Funding models are evolving.
Community expectations and needs are not what they were a generation ago.
I have watched strong leaders quietly carry enormous pressure. I have seen talented administrators question themselves as budgets tighten and boards grow anxious. I have seen organizations drift into deficit cycles that cannot continue indefinitely.
It matters to me.
Arts leaders are resourceful. We are used to solving problems internally and making things work with limited means. That strength is real. And the communities you serve depend on it.
But this moment is different. It is structural. And structural shifts are often difficult to see clearly from inside the system.
Adaptation is not optional. It is a leadership responsibility.
I help leaders navigate this moment with clarity and principled adaptation.
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Let’s begin with a conversation
If your organization is navigating pressure and needs clearer direction, I would welcome a conversation.
I understand the tension from the inside
I have spent more than thirty years in the arts as a performer, conductor, composer, and executive leader.
My dual role as both an active performer and administrator has given me a practical understanding of what is at stake. Artistic excellence requires discipline and vulnerability. Organizational health requires clarity and restraint. Leaders are asked to hold both.
I have worried about payroll.
Managed board conflict.
Written grants late at night.
Felt the limits of tight budgets on ambitious programming.
And asked whether this work is sustainable.