When I was 5 years old, I walked down Broadway and saw a sign with Big Bird. My dream was to “make it big” in New York City. When I grew up, I moved to New York, but it was a different than I had ever imagined. I chased after a dollar. I hustled. I taught French, worked in a café (for a week), showed apartments, cat sat, house sat, sold an iron on craigslist for $10, worked at Rolex on 5thAvenue and lived in about 10 different apartments. I never planned anything. I was a pianist who threw herself into a concrete jungle. I was always busy and obsessed with being busy. That all changed when I got the call from the hospital and rushed to DC to be by my mother’s side.  → Read More

In all my life, I never imagined I would establish an international nonprofit, spend time traveling, speaking to groups, meeting multitudes of inspiring women, and fighting for the empowerment of women and girls around the world.  → Read More

Today, I run my own company, Range, Inc., a meat marketing and education firm located in Chicago, Illinois. I am the author of the James Beard nominated book, The Art of Beef Cutting. I’ve been on the Today Show, featured in Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, Martha Stewart Radio, and many other local and national media outlets. I get calls from companies and individuals all over the world, asking for help with their meat related challenges. How did I get here? It all started with my desire to get an education.  → Read More

Ten years ago, if you had told me I would be answering to “Mama Roar” at a motorcycle dealership that I owned – while dealing with techs, painters, air brush artists, custom seat designers and a variety of other vendors and staff – I would have thought you had lost your mind. But here I am, storming one of the last male bastions we have in America, the motorcycle industry. How did it happen? Here’s my story.  → Read More

In 2008 I faced a real “holy (bleep)” moment when everything I had built in my life came crashing down around me. I had what others refer to as a mid-life crisis, but for me it became my mid-life rebirth. But before I get into that, let me back track a little further, all the way back to the beginning to be precise, so that you can see why my fairytale story is such an improbable one.  → Read More

There was never a question in my mind that I would have a career in fashion. At six years old, I was designing and sewing clothes for my American Girl dolls. From there, I started sketching all the time – hundreds of sketches of people, outfits, and accessories.  → Read More