I was raised in Indiana by what externally looked like a family of circus clowns. From the outside, we were a mix of the Cleavers and the Adams family. But what took place behind closed doors was nothing less than magical.
My dad was the “Steve Martin of the Midwest”: there was rarely a moment that we weren’t laughing at something. I learned that humor was a fabulous way to move through life. No matter how high the high, or low the low, I discovered there’s always a good joke in there somewhere!
My brother Doug was diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome, Turrets, Autism and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. My parents searched long and hard for cutting-edge approaches and leading-edge techniques to support Doug’s development. From this I grew up learning to push against the mainstream, refuse to give up, and never take no for an answer.
Willing to give their last kidney to a stranger in the check-out line, my socially-active parents were always giving to others, especially to those who were down-n-out. Mom specialized in teaching remedial students, and poured her heart and soul into her work with the Association for Retarded Citizens. Inheriting her passion to help those who couldn’t help themselves, I instinctively followed her lead to become an advocate for those less-fortunate.
But even with all this positive family influence, childhood was a tumultuous time, and puberty was downright painful. I experienced first-hand how kids judged me because I was fat, and how they made fun of my brother because he was different. From those moments on I vowed to never to see anyone as less-than.
When I turned 18 I moved to New York City believing my life’s purpose was to become an artist and designer. Well, the joke was on me! As John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”, and he couldn’t have been more right.
In my early twenties my design career started to skyrocket, but my personal life began to tank. Looking back, I realize that’s when my real path began. I started experiencing severe depressions, food addiction, chronic illness and plummeting self-esteem.
As I stepped into what I lovingly refer to as “the dark ages” (understatement), embraced my healing journey, and started coming out the other side, I discovered a passion for psychology, spirituality, metaphysics and health that surprisingly equalled my love of art and beauty. I also came to see that if my life could miraculously transform, then anyone’s could!
As my design career continued to flourish, I began working with some of the most successful magazines, newspapers and corporations in the country like Disney and the LA Times.
What I didn’t notice until years later was that the artwork I was creating wasn’t just “art” — I was painting about social, political, racial and spiritual issues. I was using my art to speak for me — to express the strong opinions I had bottled inside. Using imagery as a healing tool, my art became my voice…
By some crazy coincidence, I met the person who would become my lifelong mentor and Feng Shui Master, Jackie Patricia, on a bus ride from New York to Massachusetts. It was around this time that I started to feel like a living version of the Joan Osborne lyric, “What if God was one of us…just a stranger on a bus.”
Not long after meeting Jackie, I began pursuing my spiritual career, and started teaching the techniques that had changed my own life: feng shui design, holistic healing, intuitive coaching, meditation, and much, much more.
As I entered the spiritual and healing community, it was then that I became grateful for having two mathematicians for parents. I grew up questioning everything, and to this day, this healthy dose of skepticism keeps me grounded in a sometimes ungrounded profession.
Just as my personal and professional lives were starting to align, life threw me another curve: my father was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
With doctors telling him he had just three months to live, against all odds I watched a miracle unfold as my father cured himself of cancer. With an uncanny determination, hours of meditation, (and endless episodes of Moe, Larry and Curly), my father was the living lesson that we manifest our own destiny, our thoughts become our reality, and nothing is impossible.
Years later when my best friend committed suicide, I realized that life is far too short to live small, live in fear, or not really live at all. It was at that moment that I got down on hands and knees and vowed to give my life to serving others in a way that I’d never truly done before. And as an answer to my prayers, two weeks later I met my producer Amelia and the miracle of Fun Shui was born.
Fun Shui was never about being on television or making a room “pretty”. It was about introducing millions of people to feng shui — a powerful (yet misunderstood) tool for taking charge of your life and manifesting your dreams. From helpless to hopeful, I taught people how to become the captain of their own ship and dictate their own destiny. By changing your space, you truly can change your life.
I’ve done a lot of exciting things in my life and had some incredible accomplishments (I’ll gladly fax you a list), although at the end of the day I know this to be true: being always comes before doing. Helping people to be — in the moment, and in love with themselves — is the end-all-be-all. And to laugh themselves silly along the way is even better! And so I’m continuing this journey with my life’s purpose in mind: To change the world, one happy person at a time.
