I've been singing as long as I can remember and entertaining audiences of all ages for the past 20 years. I was born at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippine Islands and raised in an Air Force family. My mother, a "stay at home mom", was the backbone of our family. My mom has a beautiful voice and was always singing around the house and in choirs. She was my earliest musical influence and the one who gave me my voice. By the age of 16, I had lived in Montana, Wisconsin, Germany, Michigan, Virginia, Northern California and Ohio. Although my family is rooted in Wisconsin, I have come to settle in the mountains east of San Diego and consider it home.----------As a kid, I spent a lot of time outdoors riding my bike, skiing or spending time wandering around in the woods near home. Nature was my respite and it seems natural that I took up playing guitar at 15 when I was inspired by John Denver's music. I attended college at Ohio University where I earned a BS in Community Health. Years later, I attended graduate school at Humboldt State University in California where I earned my Elementary Teaching Credential. It didn't take me long to discover that the four walls of the traditional classroom were too confining for my spirit, so I discovered a career teaching kids in the outdoors. A Naturalist by profession, I spent 15 years teaching at outdoor science schools and camps where I found myself entertaining audiences at campfire programs and loving it. In the years to follow, I worked hard to become the best outdoor education teacher I could be. I used my music abilities to help inspire children to appreciate the wonders of nature by playing environmental music. In 2000, I was awarded "Environmental Educator of the Year" for the Southern CA Section of the Assoc. for Environmental and Outdoor Education (AEOE). I still teach periodically as a Naturalist and coordinate a 5th grade environmental tent camp for the Anza-Borrego Institute. ----------Playing music for kids was fun, but I still dreamed of music playing a larger role in my life. Then in 2000, I was asked to record a song for a Julian Christmas CD produced by Kevin Dennis, bass player for the San Diego classic rock band, "Laguna". The friendship that followed was the catalyst for a whole new musical evolution. Wanting to reach out to a broader audience, I teamed up with Kevin and Tom Schwend to start an acoustic folk trio called "Mile High". After a couple of years we re-grouped and evolved into a five member folk rock band. It was lots of fun and I learned a lot during the three year stint playing with the band. When a couple of members moved away from the San Diego area, the group disbanded in 2006.----------Searching again for another musical outlet, I attended SummerSongs West in 2005, a camp for songwriters. The experience I had there and the people I met changed my life and musical focus. I continue to attend SummerSongs West and WinterSongs West songwriting camps twice a year. I love songwriting and have also co-written a few songs with some wonderful songwriters like Rich Phillips, Michael Capella, Severin Browne and Michael Gandy.----------In 2006 I teamed up with a local singer-songwriter friend Blake Rogers to form an acoustic folk duo called, "Jake's Mountain". We feature our original songs and diverse choice of covers to highlight our love of great melodies, lyrics and vocal harmonies. We currently perform around the Julian backcountry and Greater San Diego area. We have a Live CD that will be released soon, Jake's Mountain: "Live at Dark-Thirty". Please see band info for more on Jake's Mountain.
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