Master of Arts, Truman State University, 1996
(Same school, different name by the time I graduated again)
English
Graduate Teaching/Research Assistantship, ‘94-96
Subtitle:
It was the best of times
No, honestly, it was the best of times
learning the secretary’s salary
paid the same as the GTRA
and I could quit the keyboarding for
the education department
(already raising my alarm about the future
but I do digress)
and afford to get an MA
at the same time as the spouse
at the time
It felt like coming home
I drank beer in the cemetery that holds the bones
of Harry H. Laughlin
American Eugenicist
It was the best of times
Additional Significant Training & Instructional Certification/Design Outside Corporate Work
Certified Neurodivergence Life Coach, (founding course developer and first course mentor)
Spiritual Wellness Specialist, and first certification course mentor
Nature Therapy Guide, certification course mentor
Leader Effectiveness Training, Gordon Training International
NIA Instructor, (White Belt, 2007)
A Sampling of Occupational Adventures in CorporationLand
American Medical Association (Notable publication that taught me more about how to evaluate evidence in medicine than most working physicians probably know: Also, I proofread and edited the digital CPT & ICD coding lines, so I can tell you far too much about everything that can and does go wrong with the human body, either naturally or unnaturally)
Bain Consulting (Chicago Office): A seat inside the lion’s den before the gladiator fights if ever I could imagine a modern version
A Multimillion-Dollar For-Profit Dot-Com Era MBA Startup To this day, the most brilliant group of people I’ve ever worked with—and somewhere just in the middle of the worst humans I’ve worked for (it was substantially funded by an orange felon. No, another one. Michael Milkin)
Scripps Health The less said about how sausage is made in front of anybody at breakfast, the better. The same applies to healthcare when you need it.
Freelancing I’d link you, I’d tell you, but in a lot of cases, there are NDAs. Does anybody still enforce those? Does anybody still enforce anything? Are John Deere tractors green? Is Best Buy huge and always creepily empty? Is Apple still the best ecosystem, usability-wise (thanks in no small part to the two cantankerous wizard-founders of the Nielsen-Norman Group, whom I worked with on the most mindblowing learning experience of my long and winding” career”)? Who knows. Anyway, the freelancing has ranged from ghostwriting projects that start with “You have an idea, right…? No? OK, let’s get one for you that will nail your persona and your goals…” to 150-page highly technical interactive mass compliance training courseware. Which I didn’t just abstract from source material and write—I also designed the learning paths, the interactions, the quizzes, and then stepped in and did asset sourcing. I’ve designed, written, and laid out two full books from manuscript to Amazon/paperback—and written one of my own, along with designing four oracle decks (so far, none have made it to market, because I need an assistant. I got everything in this brain but executive function.)
Everyday Endeavors
Esoteric Consulting with private clients in astrological questions, Higher Self/Authenticity work, and multimodal energy alignment readings (tarot, oracle, dice, divining rod, pendulum, charms, letter chips, and more)
Writing and Editing my own work and handpicked projects for clients whose needs and goals are a good match for my workstyle.
Visual Art I create to remain sane in insane times. I create in the abstract to remain free. I create in multimedia to explore options. I create with my canvases to discover what each wants to become.
Coaching with an eye always fixed on a client’s graduation, as soon as practically possible (because I don’t have all the answers—they do—but they might not know where to start looking, and with that, I can help—assuming they’re willing to meet me with an open mind, an open heart, and an endless well of self-compassion)
Creating A Life That Works
Formal Education (with explanatory notes)
Bachelor of Arts, Northeast Missouri State University, ‘90
Communication Arts & Psychology (double major), Political Science Minor
Merit-based President’s Honorary Scholarship (full tuition & fees & room/board, ‘86-90)
Subtitle:
How A High-Masking Undiagnosed
‘gifted’
AuDHD Female
Burned Out The First Time
And Literally Nobody Noticed
But There Were Grades To Be Kept Up
Or A Scholarship Would Be Lost
And A College Career
And All Hopes
Of A Lifetime
Not Waiting Tables
For Dollar Tips
From Filthy Old Men
Would Reach
A Sudden And Final End
So All The
“I Can’t Get Out of Bed to Go to Class”
Incompletes
Had To Be Finished
During the Summer
Before Senior Year