I am a bicoastal parade float designer and scenic designer.

I fell in love with the Rose Parade® when I was 9 years old after my family won grandstand seats in a raffle. I designed my first float in the parade at age 13. In 2012, I founded Paradiso Parade Floats where I provided all designs, schematics, art direction, and floral design. Every float I designed since 1994 has earned an award.

Although I continue to design floats freelance, I sold Paradiso in 2018 so that I could explore work in the theatre. I studied scenic design at the Yale School of Drama.

For me, design is a search for the ineffable. I look and listen and try to discern the heart of each project — the core identity that makes it uniquely specific. Then I work hard to honor that identity with every choice — exploring possibilities until the decisions reverberate as a whole in a way that feels alive and true.

Meaningful work on a grand scale can never be done alone. I am grateful for many collaborative relationships, but especially those with the talented creatives at Artistic Entertainment Services and Fiesta Productions.

As a collaborator, I thrive on a lively meeting of the minds — a chain reaction of creativity. I’m an eager travel companion and occasional sparring parter as we work together to birth meaningful, one-of-a-kind work.

I design because I want to help unleash hope, restoration, and healing into the world. Whether creating a 55-foot floral hippopotamus or the desperate hellscape of “Marat/Sade,” I rely on an internal aesthetic plumb line. This sensitivity is the greatest gift I have been given as a designer. It’s the best gift I can offer any team or project.

I hold a BA in English from Wheaton College, IL, and an MA in Shakespeare Studies from the University of Birmingham, UK. I am an MFA candidate at the Yale School of Drama.