I am an Occupational Therapist and a Doctor of Physical Therapy
(meaning nothing more at this point except that I will be 52 years old
before my student loans are paid off). But, I have always dreamed of
being a designer. I have designed clothing, accessories, jewelry, and
home goods, since I can remember…but always as a hobby. As a
teen, I was constantly re-decorating my room and obsessively rearranging
my mother’s furniture. My mother, grandmother and I would go to fabric
stores almost every weekend. I would get patterns and alter them to add a
little “flare” and my grandmother was such a seamstress- she could make
any of my ideas come to life. But, growing up in a very, very small
town, I really didn’t know that it was possible to be an interior
designer or fashion designer. It was as if those jobs were like
unicorns. We have seen them in books and on TV but not in real life. So,
I really never aspired to make anything of this hobby and this passion
that was always inside of me.
After my husband died in July of 2009, I decided that I was done with
healthcare, and if I was going to raise two babies and have a job, I
had better enjoy that job. There is a long (18+ years) road ahead and
the last thing I want to do 40+ hours of my week is watch people hurt.
Yes, there are some success stories, but since I usually worked with
trauma victims or those in long term care facilities, the heartache
outweighed the joy. So, once I moved to Atlanta, I started looking for
design programs. I found one that was the perfect fit, Vanguard School
of Design. I visited a class in session and signed up on the spot. It was the "therapy" I needed to get through that first awful year. Now, here I am with my own company! I am abandoning
the “DPT, OTR/L that I once signed after my name in medical charts, and
bestowing upon myself the following more appropriate title: “Director
of Possibilities”. What do you think??
