My curiosity about mortality is inseparable from my interest in what it means to be alive, in a body, for a finite amount of time.

Mortality became a more immediate part of my life in 2021, when my father and three other members of my family died. Years of caregiving and that season of loss brought me into closer contact with the ordinary fact that death comes for us all.

What surprised me most was how much paying attention to mortality deepened my desire to live more fully. I began wondering what becomes possible when we make room for dying—not only in how we approach death, but in how we approach life. That inquiry eventually led me to train as an end-of-life doula and, later, as a somatic coach. It sits at the heart of Wise Mortal.

I was born and raised in the United States. My mixed heritage is Indigenous Nicaraguan through my immigrant mother and white American through my father.

I earned a BA in Art History from Georgetown University and a BFA in Studio Art from Florida Atlantic University, then spent more than two decades in operations in the highly regulated environmental testing industry while building an interdisciplinary art practice alongside it.

My artwork is held in more than 20 public collections, including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Yale and Harvard.

The laboratory, the studio and the experiences of my whole life have nurtured two enduring instincts: curiosity about what can be observed and measured, and reverence for all that cannot.

I’ve been meditating for more than a decade, and my work continues to be shaped by the teachers and lineages I study with.

Alongside Wise Mortal, I’m co-founder of INTERVAL PAPER and co-author and illustrator of The Good Enough Guide.