My Story

I was born in the tiny mining town of Nueva Rosita, Mexico and grew up on the Texas-Mexico border, in a home with living room windows overlooking the Rio Grande. It was from this diverse vantage point that I developed a deep love for the colorful culture, language, and people of both Texas and Mexico. I crossed the international bridge into Piedras Negras with my mom most afternoons for dance class, to visit my Grandma, or to buy mangos at the frutería, then crossed back over to do homework in English and watch Charlie's Angels before bed. I developed a sense that there was a bridge between these worlds in my own heart, and that I wasn't one without the other. 

My affinity for integrating disparate experiences is mirrored by a career spanning the worlds of art, film, hospitality, and design. I studied Art and English at Duke University, becoming the first woman in my family to graduate from college when I earned a BA there in 1991. I then attended the University of Texas School of Law, only to discover it was absolutely the worst place ever for me. Though I stuck it out and passed the Bar Exam, I immediately deactivated from the Bar to go work with a female owned pottery business in East Austin.

A fortuitous happy hour chat a year later led me to the opportunity to work in the Art Department of  Paramount’s "Varsity Blues," where I was finally able to use my law degree to help secure legal clearances, run coffee orders, and most importantly, reconnect with my true love of art. I spent the next decade coordinating the Art Department, securing product placements and buying set pieces for films such as Miss Congeniality, All the Pretty Horses, The Rookie, and Robert Rodriguez's Predators, Grindhouse, and Spy Kids. 

In 2005, I left the film business with my family to take a job in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, where I served as project manager for the Kor Hotel Group and the bilingual liaison and design assistant for designer Kelly Wearstler on various hotel projects including the Tides Riviera Maya, Viceroy Maykoba, Tides Zihuatanejo, and Tides Playa Del Carmen. 

Once back in Austin, I continued to work in the realm of hospitality design and sourcing with the development group New Waterloo, selecting and installing original mid-century and contemporary art, accessories, and merchandise for Hotel Ella. I also selected and installed guest room and lobby art, accessories, plants, and furniture for the South Congress Hotel. 

These days, I source, style and design interior installations and specs for Robert Rodriguez' La Reyna agency and Brookfield Residential. I’m a proud mom to four really great kids who I hope will follow their dreams, however disparate. I love to cook, paint, play tennis, and drink tequila. My current studio project is a series of paintings focused on things my mom used to say to me in Spanish.