Alongside my life as an artist, my amazing husband and I have built our family through birth, adoption, and foster care.
I’m the founder of BeTheRefuge.com.
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BE THE REFUGE
One of the biggest gifts I have received, is being a mom…This is us
Since becoming a foster parent, people have continually asked me what fostering is really like, how they can become a foster parent, how adoption works, and where they should begin. I realized that many people may have the heart to help a child, but they simply do not know where to start.
At the same time, the need is urgent.
There are children waiting for safety, stability, encouragement, and someone willing to believe in their future. Children waiting to feel wanted. Children who need someone to say, You matter. You belong. You are worth showing up for.
That is why I created BeTheRefuge.com.
My goal is to build a resource where people can find clear information about fostering and adoption, no matter where in the world they live. Every country has different systems, requirements, and first steps. Be The Refuge is meant to make that first step easier—to turn curiosity into understanding, and understanding into action.
For me, this mission is deeply connected to my life as an artist.
My work has always centered on transformation: the strength it takes to move through uncertainty, the way perspective can change, and the person we can become after experiencing something that changes us.
I understand transformation personally.
For years as a child, I was severely bullied. Those experiences affected the way I saw myself for a long time. I struggled with self-acceptance, self-love, and the desire to be accepted by others. Over time, I had to learn how to see myself differently and how to become stronger without allowing the past to define my future.
I would never compare my experiences to the trauma many children in foster care have endured. Their stories are uniquely their own. But I understand something about carrying pain forward, about searching for belonging, and about how profoundly a person’s life can change when they begin to feel safe, valued, and seen.
That transformation is what I want for every child.
When I exhibit my artwork, I want the experience to extend beyond the walls of the exhibition. I want art to create connection, and I want that connection to lead somewhere.
Because awareness alone is not enough.
If one person learns more about fostering because of an artwork, if one family decides to open their home, or if one child discovers that someone is willing to stand beside them, then art has become more than something we look at.
It has become a refuge.
Every child deserves to feel safe.
Every child deserves to feel wanted.
Every child deserves the opportunity to belong.
And sometimes, changing a child’s future begins with one person willing to say:
I can be the refuge.