My life has been a wild and sometimes disorienting journey — from growing up as the 4th of 6 children inside an extreme religious fundamentalist cult to living an out-and-proud, nomadic camper life with my husband. That sentence might sound tidy, even adventurous, but the truth underneath it is anything but lightweight. This has been a foundation-shaking path marked by fear, rupture, loss, longing, late-night conversations, sleepless nights, and moments when everything I thought I knew about God, love, safety, the world, and myself had to be dismantled and rebuilt. What surprises me most, looking back, is not that I survived it — but that I didn’t come through armored, cynical, or hollow. Instead, this journey has asked me again and again to choose depth over polish, authenticity over performance, and presence over protection. What follows may read like a list of names, places, dates, and organizations — but if you read between the lines, there is a deeply tender story here, and it is very much still unfolding.
In 1989, I received my high school diploma from Valley Christian School in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, where I grew up. The four years that followed were spent doing informal training and volunteer work in both computers and music in a variety of organizations and settings — including Bill Gothard’s headquarters for the Institute in Basic Life Principles, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s summer camp at Cedar Campus, Whitecap Mountains in Iron Belt, Wisconsin, and Unity Public Schools in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin. Those years were deeply formative. For readers familiar with these organizations, the names themselves likely say enough.
Feeling a growing call toward music and public education, I decided to return to school in 1993 and earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Music Education from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. I put myself through college waiting tables at a variety of restaurants — an education in humility, stamina, and human behavior that complemented my formal musical training in ways I didn’t fully appreciate at the time.
Immediately out of college, I accepted my first professional teaching position in 1998 teaching 6–12 grade vocal music in Lomira, Wisconsin. After teaching for a couple of years, I completed an exciting and fairly cutting-edge course in vocal pedagogy called the Bodymind and Voice course through the Voice Care Network. While teaching in Lomira, I founded the Lomira Community Theatre and directed four productions — apparently under the impression that sleep was optional. During this period, I returned to school once again and completed my Master’s Degree in Vocal Music Education at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
After six years in Lomira, I moved to Colorado in 2004 and accepted a position teaching vocal music, theory, and composition at Aspen Middle and High School, working with students in grades 5–12. During my time there, I completed training in the Love and Logic approach to classroom management and took IB Music training. I developed the full curriculum for the two-year IB Music course, as well as the introductory theory and composition curriculum at Aspen High School.
In the fall of 2005, I began working part-time at Snowmass Chapel, filling in when Marty Pickett was unavailable and directing the Christmas and Easter choirs. In the fall of 2006, I was hired full-time as Music Director. Over time, my role expanded well beyond Sunday mornings. My responsibilities included accompanying services, organizing and directing the Christmas and Easter choirs and orchestras, serving as Creative Director for the Snowmass Chapel Winter Concert Series, directing and producing theatrical events, providing IT support for the chapel staff, and keeping the chapel’s technology functional and up to date. It was a long, creative, demanding, and meaningful chapter of my life.
Since moving to the Roaring Fork Valley, I have remained active as a performer and collaborator. I have appeared with Aspen Community Theatre in the pit orchestras for The Sound of Music and The Music Man, served as vocal director for She Loves Me, and performed the role of Pippin in Pippin. I have soloed for Susan Nicholson at Aspen Chapel, sung with the auditioned choir at Christ Church under Andrew Todd and later Katie Hone Wiltgen, Katie Sansone, and Molly Noel, performed with Symphony In The Valley, played in pit orchestras and appeared in productions with Theatre Aspen, and soloed with Aspen Choral Society under Ray Adams.
In late May of 2009, a German a cappella ensemble called Vocaldente toured the United States and performed at Snowmass Chapel. One of the singers and I began an international correspondence that continued for two years and eventually became something far more significant than music. On September 18, 2011, Michael (Micha) Schoepe and I were married in Bellevue, Iowa, formalizing our shared life, love, respect, and admiration for one another.
In 2013, following the rapid decline and passing of Ray Adams, I was invited to become Music Director of Aspen Choral Society. Since then, I have had the privilege of leading performances of Handel’s Messiah as well as a wide range of spring repertoire, including Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Rutter’s Mass of the Children, Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, Gjeilo’s Dark Night of the Soul and Luminous Night of the Soul, Christopher Tin’s The Drop That Contained the Sea, and Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden. I will conclude my tenure as Music Director of Aspen Choral Society with the Spring 2026 season and a German tour.
On April 30, 2024, I resigned from my position at Snowmass Chapel, curious to see where my ongoing journey might lead. Since then, I have been deeply engaged in studying the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, particularly as it applies to music-making, community building, and psychedelic facilitation. As of February 2025, I completed my education as a Licensed Psychedelic Facilitator in Colorado.
In July of 2024, Micha and I became Co-Music Directors for Two Rivers Unitarian Universalists in Carbondale, Colorado, where I also serve as acting office manager. We will be serving this community through June of 2026. Unitarian Universalism has offered a spiritual home grounded in curiosity, compassion, justice, and the inherent worth and dignity of every person — values that resonate deeply with my own life and work.
Looking ahead, Micha and I have resigned from our long-term positions, are preparing to sell our home, and are planning to move into our camper during the summer of 2026. We have been contemplating a more nomadic, music-centered life for many years, and the timing finally feels right. This website is one place where that unfolding story will continue to be shared.
My primary instruments are piano, voice, and flute (both transverse and traditional Irish – I recently acquired a beautiful handmade Irish Flute by Patrick Olwell). I also play some guitar and bass. I enjoy creating original arrangements, collaborating with other musicians, and building musical experiences that feel connected, alive, and human.
When I’m not working, I enjoy hiking and camping in the mountains, traveling with my husband, deep conversations, reading, cooking, tinkering with technology, working on house and camper projects, and — inevitably — music. If you’ve made it all the way to the end, thank you for being here. I’m glad you found your way to this page.
If you’d like to follow along as this next chapter unfolds, scroll to the bottom of this page and sign up for my newsletter. I’ll send occasional updates as Micha and I prepare for life on the road — plus whatever music, stories, and small discoveries we pick up along the way.