I’m a violinist, producer, composer, teacher, wife and mom.  If you want to get to know me better, scroll on down!

It all started back in 1st grade at an elementary school Christmas assembly. I saw a 3rd grade girl take the stage with her violin, and as she began to play Silent Night, I remember thinking it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. Thankfully when I ran home later that day and begged my mom to let me try violin lessons, she happily supported the idea!

I wanted to quit. I couldn’t play anything and sounded terrible, but thanks to her great motherly wisdom (and midwestern edge) my mom reminded me that she and my dad had already paid the rental fee for my first violin for 1 year, so I wasn’t getting out of it until then.  

Thank goodness for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, because once I learned how to play (squeak out) that song after about 2 months, I was hooked and have been playing ever since!  

I ended up out west at Gonzaga University on a partial music scholarship, but never intended to make a career out of music. I had been constantly told growing up that it was nearly impossible to make a living as a musician, so I wrote that off early and stuck with a business related path instead.

Right before graduation I started to feel uneasy. I’d been playing the violin for most of my life, and while I still loved it, I didn’t know how I was going to keep it in my life once I left school. I graduated in 2009 not knowing what would be next in my life for me and my violin.

One day after work the following year, I was browsing YouTube for my favorite video game music from Final Fantasy (as nerds do) and I came across a pianist sharing a performance of the song I’d been searching for. I looked at the comments preparing myself to feel sorry for this poor piano player, but I was shocked to see that people were actually enjoying it and…being nice?

It kind of blew my mind because I was bullied when I was growing up for being a “nerd”, liking video games and the music from them, and then here was this place, Youtube, where like minded people were actually coming together in a positive way to share in this nerdy passion together. I was intrigued.

I consider myself to be more of an introverted person, so I was slightly horrified at the thought of filming myself and posting it on the internet, but I was at a point in my life where I had started really missing the violin and thought this might be a way to stay connected with it. So I uploaded my first video on YouTube in April of 2010.

My early videos were extremely low budget (thanks mom & dad for letting me film in your spare room!), I wasn’t making any money from it and was still working my day-job, but I was having so much fun building a community on there.

The world can sometimes feel like a dark place, especially on social media these days, but you can always count on me to try and bring some light to whatever I’m doing and sharing with you. I want to truly thank you for being a part of my community and I look forward to connecting with everyone on the blog here or on my other social media sites!

When my channel really started growing and people were sharing their stories about how my music was helping them through a hard time or impacting them in a positive way, that gave so much meaning and value to what I was doing and helped me stay motivated to turn music into my full time career.

I’ve been so blessed to have such a supportive audience and I’m so grateful to have been able to try so many different things in my career already after a decade in this industry. Some things have changed, but what will always remain the same is my determination to bring a level of positivity and joy to my community.

Jarred and I met in Freshman English class at 14 and our first “date” consisted of playing the video game Super Smash Bros 64 with 2 of our friends (spoiler, my friend and I won every round!). We survived dating long-distance through College and married in 2011 after 10 years of dating. I feel so blessed to have married my best friend. We still play video games together, though we have less time now with our 2 boys, Logan and Walker.

Jarred and I currently have 2 sons, Logan (born in 2019) and Walker (born in 2021). Being a mom is definitely the hardest job I’ve ever had, but it’s also brought more joy into my life than I ever could have imagined. 

Growing up I was bullied a LOT by other kids for the way I looked, dressed, and especially for my love of video games and other “nerdy” things. Very early on I learned how to stop caring what other people think, and now I love showing people they can stay true to themselves and still achieve everything they want out of life.

I see a lot of people out there these days who claim to be Christians but don’t really set a great example for what our faith is about, or even worse, turn people off from it. I’m not a perfect person, but I love Jesus and try my best to live my life and treat others in a way that would make him proud. My faith has always been there to guide me through my most difficult moments in life.

I’m guessing you wouldn’t know this because I really haven’t shown myself doing this a lot, but I’m just as passionate about music production as I am the violin. There’s so much I love about music production: the gear, the technology, the sample libraries, honestly I could go on and on! I love producing my own tracks and helping others become better at creating their own music. 

The violin has been a loyal friend of mine since I was 8 years old. Together we made it through private lessons, school orchestras, chamber orchestras, community orchestras, competitive youth orchestras, quartets, fiddle groups, recitals, auditions, concerts and competitions. I played very seriously and studied classical music throughout my school years, but I also had a life outside of music that consisted of spending time with loved ones, playing sports, and of course video games.

I don’t drink alcohol. I’ve actually never been drunk, tried smoking, drugs, or anything else you can think of that might be associated with a stereotypical musician. I always say I’d rather have a piece of cake than a cocktail, but the main reason I don’t do that stuff is because I don’t want to be altered. Nothing about the partying scene has ever remotely appealed to me unless it’s a birthday party…and there’s cake….haha!

I love spending time at home, especially with the people I love. This is a big part of the reason why touring never felt like the right fit for me. My idea of a great night involves some delicious carryout from a favorite restaurant and watching a show or playing a game with Jarred. If we do go out, I love getting coffee! You’ll never find me out at a club, bar or party, that kind of atmosphere is just pretty much the exact opposite of what my personality likes to be around.

I’m definitely a huge foodie and I also love to cook. There are a lot of special dietary needs for certain members of my family between dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan, and one of my favorite things is trying out new recipes that work for everyone at a family gathering (I have some seriously delicious GF&V cookie recipes!).
 
I also love working out, especially weight-lifting, which is something I’ve been doing since middle school. My new favorite is the fitness trampoline. I got one after enviously watching Logan bounce like crazy on his toddler one and it’s seriously such a great workout and so much fun!

I love animals, but when it comes to dogs vs. cats, I’m Team Dog all the way. I’ve been obsessed with dogs for as long back as I can remember. I used to check out the big “Eyewitness Dogs” book from the library every week when I was growing up, and to this day I can still name most breeds when I see them. I’ve actually never had a puppy or a purebred though, we’ve always adopted mixed-breed dogs as adults from shelters. Right now we have 2 shepherd-mix rescue dogs, Jax and Indy, and I can’t imagine our family without them.