Birmingham
I was born in New Orleans to an American mother and French father but actually grew up here in Birmingham. Birmingham is a good size, but I always looked forward to moving to a bigger city. So, when I graduated high school, I moved to Atlanta and attended the Savannah College of Art and Design where I obtained a BFA and MFA in printmaking. After graduating I moved again to an even bigger city and taught art in Harlem, New York. Then after a few years the opportunity arose to move West, so I packed up my things and settled in San Francisco, selling art. San Francisco was beautiful, but it was light years away from family and if you thought the rent was bad in New York. . . you should have seen the prices in San Francisco! Alabama was calling and I was eager to answer. I wanted roots. I wanted to settle down, and more than anything I wanted to be with my family (and near a Milo’s again).
I moved back and enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Alabama, and as soon as I graduated, I bought a house in Vestavia. My neighborhood is called Green View Estates. We have a Facebook group and an 80-year-old ambassador named Faye who checks in on all of us. My neighborhood, in combination with the emerging food and art scene, has made Birmingham a fabulous place to be a mom!
Mom
I am not a “regular mom, I’m a cool mom” to three cool kids—my stepdaughter Aaliyah (12), and my two boys Louis (almost two), and Ronin (two months). Having two under two means we can’t have nice things. So, I lovingly describe our house as a dumpster fire. And having a twelve-year-old means that contrary to my previous statement, I am NOT, in fact, cool. I am, however, the Creative Director and Event Leader at Back Forty Beer Co. Birmingham where I coordinate events, manage social media, and design deliverables including beer labels.
Balancing work and motherhood can be challenging, but I am a firm believer in the power of dance parties and cherry coke. (Both of which have carried me through the hard times.) Your toddler is acting up? Put on some James Brown and “get up offa that thing and dance ‘til you feel better!”
Collective
I love to write and am looking forward to contributing to the Birmingham Mom Collective. I am a working mom of a blended family whose coping methods include a lot of putting off folding clean laundry and laughing. There’s something wonderful, terrible, and hilarious about being a mom and I can’t wait to share it! There’s a fraternity in motherhood and I’m here to cry and laugh with you.
