From MBA to Artist & Advocate
I was a closet artist. I'd hidden my artistic talents all my life because art didn't seem reliable, responsible, or practical to a girl who had grown up in a small town, busing tables in her parents restaurant, cleaning mom and pop cabins and barely making ends meet.
I decided to get my MBA. I had great aspirations, and expected the battle to succeed. In grad school I wrote papers about Leaning In to the workplace, never wore pink, and thought of my make up as war paint.
However, in January 2023, after decades in mental health care administration, I left my career to merge my hidden artistic capabilities with my business experience to fight back against mental health stigma in a more grass roots way.
I was encouraged by my daughter, who shared her unhappy experience while taking medications when other kids were not. Med Snugglers were born out of a mother's desire to make medications easier to remember, more private and all around more of a friendly experience instead of the reminder that something was 'wrong' with you.
We have since expanded to collaborate with artists, schools, and companies to make and donate Med Snugglers to youth leaving higher levels of mental health care as well as to open up submissions of tiny art for donation by artists and art teachers!
