My earliest professional work was with autistic and other neurodivergent people, which led me into speech-language pathology and eventually to a doctorate in Communication Sciences & Disorders. I worked clinically in acute care and inpatient rehabilitation, particularly in adult neurology, and also spent years in research, university teaching, and medical and scientific writing.

I studied French extensively and hold both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the language. I also founded Accent on Communication, where I worked individually with international professionals and students who wanted to strengthen their American English pronunciation so that they could have more equitable access to academic and professional opportunities. I partnered with organizations including GSK, Bayer, Duke University Law School, and Emory Business School to support employees and students from around the world.

I came to somatic work through my own experience of healing. Discovering body-based approaches changed my understanding of what healing could look like. I experienced the difference between understanding something intellectually and having the body begin to experience something new — more safety, more choice, more capacity, more room to be fully myself. That experience became a powerful part of what drew me toward somatic trauma work and continues to shape the care and respect I bring to it.

Over the years, I pursued intensive postgraduate training in trauma, attachment, developmental trauma, pre- and perinatal dynamics, Somatic Experiencing®, Transforming Touch®, eating disorder recovery, movement, and other somatic approaches. What emerged was not simply a collection of methods, but a deeper way of understanding how physiology, attachment, history, and adaptation interact—and how to work with those layers carefully and responsively.