As a Utah native, I grew up with the mountains in my backyard, but in my heart I knew I was a beach girl. So after graduating college, getting married and doing time in advertising agencies, I was lured to Los Angeles and the world of magazine publishing.
As a creative director my days were spent creating and designing magazine titles for subjects ranging from natural health to bodybuilding to NASCAR to mixed martial arts. My nights were filled with walking my dogs through the Venice canals, cooking gourmet dinners with my husband Jeff and helping run an amazing group of volunteers find loving families for homeless animals.
Thanks to those varied experiences I was oh-so-lucky to get to work with some amazing people, photographers and stylists. I’ve art directed photo shoots with celebrities like Sylvester Stallone (who I thought was calling for me at the shoot when he was actually yelling for his Burmese Mountain Dog, yes, also named Heidi), animal advocate Drew Barrymore (yes, she actually was a weekend volunteer) and nearly missing my shoot with my favorite NASCAR driver Mark Martin (note: daylight savings time doesn’t apply in Arizona.)
After 13 years in L.A. and the birth of our adorable daughter Ali, Jeff and I decided it was time to make the move back to Utah where she could be around her grandparents, cousins and grow up on the ski slopes (and soon enough be wishing she was a beach bunny.)
Although I miss spending my weekends beach-bound with a cooler of spicy tuna rolls, a couple of beers and our two dogs in tow, I’ve happily replaced them with traffic-free jaunts to the mountains, sharing more quality time with family and a home I love to cocoon in.
Some of my favorite things are burnt almond fudge ice cream, cooking shows, memories of the view from here, my nightly tub, Gomez and obsessing over my tomato harvest.
These days you’ll find me at the helm of the creative department for a regional city magazine and its shelter and bridal publications plus a few other custom publishing projects. And when I’m not working at my day job I’m loving the process of creating foodiecrush, teaching a university magazine design class, designing e-books and one day mastering the art of baking bread at altitude.
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