Education

Image by Richard Bonk

I have a BA in Journalism with a Russian Minor from Indiana University, a MA in Human Development from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota and Certified as a Spiritual Director and continue in peer membership to stay accountable to the field of spiritual direction through Sacred Ground Center for Spirituality.

My life experience, my greatest education, includes diversity and adversity. Both of my parents were/are immigrants of Czechoslovakia and lived through Nazi rule during World War II and the Soviet Union occupation that followed. I grew up learning about oppressive governments and political turmoil that made me appreciate my life in America. My mother a gifted visual and textile artist, and my father an intellectual, exposed me to the cultural richness of my roots.

My own personal crisis of losing my mother at age 19 sent me on a spiritual quest at a very early age. The strength and compassion I gained through that early trauma helped me gain new insights and perspectives when battling my own infertility issues and finding resolve through the adoption of twin girls from Russia.

Working with the Somali and Hmong community for three years through the Minneapolis Public School system exposed me to a diverse population that taught me so much more about global poverty, economics and religious views. I found my intuitive listening skills to be extremely useful and enriching not only for my students but for my own learning and acceptance of things I new very little about.

During this time, I was also profoundly moved by the twenty-something co-workers I had the pleasure to meet. Many of them came and went as travel, jobs and further educational opportunities arose. Their experience of life after college was very different than mine. They seemed to move gracefully with the flow of things as they looked for balance between friends, experiences and money. Usually in that order!

I live in Minneapolis with my salt-of-the earth (Indiana boy) husband, twin daughters and a very large dog. I am grateful for my life and how it has prepared me to help others heal life struggles and find more meaning and purpose for their lives, especially during the creative shift happening in our world today.