I lost my older sister in an accident in Hawaii a few days before my seventh birthday. Stacey was my idol and best friend, and I blamed myself for her tragedy. As early on as I can remember, I have tried to make up for her loss by being the “perfect” kid, whether it was for better or for worse.

At first, I channeled that extra energy into exploring the outdoors, performing arts, and playing sports. I found solace in travel and communing with wildlife and nature. I loved to dance and sing, and was constantly putting on dance shows and one-acts for family and friends. In grade school, I starred in several musical theater productions. I downhill ski raced, ice skated, and rode horses competitively. By the time high school came around, team sports were my main refuge. I played on the varsity tennis, basketball, and soccer teams. At 16, I was a starting marking back on the Junior National Soccer Team and was recruited to play soccer at Stanford.

After a while at Stanford, however, my focus diverged from sports and I began to direct my energy toward social work -- particularly internationally. I spent a summer advising indigenous communities in La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, Costa Rica, on various environmentally sustainable micro-credit opportunities available to them, I studied wildlife management and the culling of big game on a nature reserve outside of Nairobi, Kenya, and I worked with women in the San Bushmen communities of Botswana to market and export their environmentally and socially responsible artisan goods.

Upon graduation from Stanford, I worked in a children’s hospital in Quito, Ecuador. Soon after, I took a job with Conservation International (CI), a global environmental organization whose mission it is to protect the environment for future generations. I joined their enterprise and corporate partnerships divisions and was able to combine my interests in business, entrepreneurship, and conservation by providing local indigenous communities, governments, and multinational corporations with economic, political, and social incentives to live in harmony with nature. With CI, I traveled throughout Latin America, Africa, and Europe on assignments before returning to Stanford to receive my Master’s in Business Administration.

While I was really enjoying my time back at Stanford, I felt my passion for the arts reemerging, and I started to spend any free time I had in the drama department. I became aware of a deep compassion and vulnerability I’d garnered during my humanitarian work that proved fortuitous to my acting and compelled me to study the craft. Pretty soon, I was taking night classes at San Francisco ’s American Conservatory Theater. My experience there helped me solidify a decision I’d been flirting with since my childhood…to move to Los Angeles and pursue a career in the arts. 

I hadn’t been in Hollywood but for a few days before I plunged headfirst into the independent film community. Because I had carried with me the invaluable experiences I’d had all over the world with CI, I explored the possibilities of developing feature film projects focused on strong, complex female characters in international and minority contexts. My love of Africa and my passion for conservation and poverty alleviation throughout the world inspired me to seek out and develop diverse projects that would bring awareness to causes worthier than my own.  

When I first moved to Los Angeles, certain family and acquaintances urged me to reconsider...Why pursue such a challenging career at this point in your life?  And, after getting your MBA at Stanford? My answer: they’re all connected. Arts, politics, humanitarianism, the environment, poverty alleviation, global peace, homelessness, education, etc…they are all intertwined. Hollywood has a voice. It has a very powerful voice. Is it the smartest, most informed, purest voice? Certainly not. But its’ voice resonates throughout the world through modern technology and global distribution systems. It affects and influences our mindsets and actions every day. If one can’t beat it, why not infiltrate it. It’s just another means to an end.

I feel very grateful to be living this creative life. It’s extremely satisfying to be able to challenge and stretch myself with new stories, characters, situations, and roles. I love delving into a character’s psyche, history, relationships, patterns, motivation, and circumstances. I love other cultures. I love the mind and how it works. I find myself in a perpetual state of curiosity about humanity, and acting allows me to explore it all.

I love what I do. I love this craft. My life is full. My hope is to move audiences, to take them somewhere new and far away. I want to encourage them to ask questions and challenge themselves….to be curious about life and their role in it. I want them to be inspired enough to leave a positive mark, no matter how small, on this planet. I believe that we -- on a collective and individual level -- have a responsibility to make this world a safer, healthier place for future generations. On a personal level, I think I just want to be the change I know Stacey would have made in the world.