Artist, school psychologist, and soft-hearted human behind Glad You’re Here Co.

I grew up on the living room floor with crayons, my little sister beside me, my mom quilting nearby on weekends. It sounds idyllic, and in those moments, it was. But our home was also full of anger, awkward silences, emotions nobody named out loud. Art was where I went when the chaos got too loud. At first I drew my jewelry box, my favorite cartoons, anything to escape. Then as a teenager, something shifted. I started drawing how I felt. The words I couldn’t say out loud, the weight I was carrying around mental health and self-worth, it all came out through paint and pencil instead.

For a long time, that stayed private.

Then COVID hit, and like a lot of people, I found myself thinking — what do I actually have to lose? I started posting my work online and stumbled into the warmest, most unexpected little corner of the internet. People were kind. People were showing up. So I threw some pieces on Etsy, half expecting nothing. Someone in Norway bought my work (!) and I still think about that.