Around the World & Back to Brooklyn with Samantha Brown

Samantha Brown

By Lela Nargi

On October 4, jet-setting TV hostess with the most-est Samantha Brown will launch “50/50,” her latest show on the Travel Channel. In putting the first season together, she spent weeks filming around the world—everywhere from Abu Dhabi to the Philippines—in each episode taking two random folks plucked off the streets on a quest to spend $50,000 in 50 hours, on the getaway of a lifetime. How does this Brooklyn-based mom of 2-1/2-year-old twins juggle her dream job—and her family? We caught up with her to find out.

Obviously, you love to travel. Have you had a chance to do much of that yet with your own kids? The first thing I did after Ellis and Elizabeth were born was sleep for a very long time! But when they were 8 months old, we got them their passports. So far, they’ve been on a cruise, and they’ve been down to Florida many times, and they go on many road trips with my husband and me— anywhere from a nice weekend away to 12 days in various hotels and relatives’ homes. They are already amazing travelers and have lot of patience, which I don’t see when they’re home. I think they love the newness of airports, and running down the hallway of hotels. It’s not too complicated yet, and we don’t have to do much to entertain them.

Where do you think you’ll go to use those passports of theirs for the first time? Probably somewhere close, like Europe. It would be tough to take them on a 15-hour flight to Asia; I wouldn’t want to put them through that yet.

Is there a stand-out trip from your own childhood that made you want to see the world? I think it was going to California when I was 12. It was my first time on plane, and it’s interesting for me to think about that. Now, kids get on a plane almost as soon as they’re born; everyone sees a plane as the main mode of transportation. But when I was growing up, it was the car. We’d think nothing of driving eight hours to Pennsylvania in our station wagon. So going to California, it was a big deal to get on a plane and go to Sea World, and Disneyland, Beverly Hills.

A lot of parents are afraid to travel with their children. Do you have any words of advice for them? I always sympathize with parents who are scared. I was scared the first time, too. Going through the security line can be scary, and it can bring you to another level of stress. But I do think it’s very important not to show them you’re stressed. And it’s important to remember that the purpose of traveling is not to get things right, but to have an experience. Things can go not how you planned: a place is closed, or it’s raining. But then you have the chance to say, What can we do now? It helps kids develop problem-solving skills.

Also, adults can feel weird talking to strangers, but children are conduits to other people. On our cruise, we had a wonderful cabin operator from Indonesia. We asked, How do you say hello in your country? And everyday we greeted him with that. We also learned how to say thank you. It was just two words, that was all we could handle, but that made him feel welcome, and we felt like we were learning.

After all the traveling you do, it must be nice to get home to Brooklyn. I travel all the time so I’m always a cat on the wrong side of the door. I can’t t wait to be home in my comfortable bed. I’ve lived Park Slope for 10 years and we have great neighbors with twins who are in the first grade. Every summer they go to Europe, and they also do a home swap, where they pick a different place and swap homes with another family. It’s a very affordable way to travel, and it’s so important to them to travel with their children. They’re the perfect neighbors for us!

What are you most looking forward to sharing with your kids about traveling as they get older? What I love most about traveling isn’t all the must-sees, like going to Rome or Paris. It’s the chance to spend time in the everyday lives of people around world. It is extraordinary, simply because it’s different from your life, and that’s where I find joy. Shooting the new show was high octane, but I made a point of spending time in the mundane: getting coffee in the same place every day, going to grocery stores and parks, to be with the people who live there. That’s what fills me up.

But also, the U.S. is phenomenal. I would love to take my kids out west to ride horses, wear cowboy hats, and see the big sky.

Photographs courtesy of Travel Channel

Meet the Family Behind Edoughble: Rana & John Lustyan and Riley & Emma, Westside, Los Angeles

Lustyan family

By Dawn Van Osdell

What better way to satisfy a craving than to share it with others? Rana and John Lustyan did just that with the creation of Edoughble, their Los-Angeles-based company that produces raw cookie dough—in flavors like Birthday Bash and Snicker Dude—that’s meant to be eaten right out of the container.

“I have a crazy sweet tooth and I grew up eating cookie dough despite the dangers that came with the territory,” says Rana, who realized that her preference for eating the dough before it was baked was far from unique. With plenty of restaurant experience, including a stint as a pastry chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills—Rana and her husband, John, a business development director at DreamWorks Animation, created a recipe for eggless cookie dough that’s safe to eat—just as is—without fear of foodborne illness.

Soon after they launched their business in 2013, their first child, Riley, was born. She was a fan of the tasty treat from her first bite. In fact, “She cried when I wouldn’t give her a second bite,” says Rana. Just two months ago, a second daughter, Emma, joined their happy clan. Read on to learn about the sweet life of this family of four on LA’s Westside.

baby emma makes them a family of four
BABY EMMA MAKES THEM A FAMILY OF FOUR

Tell us about a typical day juggling a toddler, a new business, and a new baby.

Rana: I quickly realized when Riley was born that I can’t work from home and take care of a baby at the same time. As a small business owner and a mom, I’m stretched pretty thin but like all moms, I make it work. I have a part-time nanny and my mom to help me take care of Riley and Emma. I do all office work and customer service from home or by cell phone on the go, and John and I work together at home at night and on weekends on more creative tasks related to the business. We have a production kitchen where we make all the dough and taste each batch. We’re getting ready to launch a Pumpkin S’mores cookie dough and starting to play with Peppermint for the holidays.

 

John: I’m currently employed full time in the entertainment industry—outside of Edoughble. When I have on my Edoughble hat, though, I‘m focused on broader business strategy, marketing, and brand development. And I’m the dedicated lifter of all heavy sacks of flour!

Do you consider yourselves foodies? 

Rana: We are total foodies! John loves all the food competition shows and tries to be Gordon Ramsay when we go out to eat—being overly particular about tastes and textures. I love to examine the plating, service, and creativity and seasonality of the menu. Having worked in the front and back of plenty of restaurant kitchens, I know what hard work is involved with running one and I can really appreciate a good meal out.

John: Rana’s life revolves around planning meals and I am no way close to her foodie level, but I consider myself pretty particular about food. She’s always teasing me and telling me I should be a critic on one of those TV shows. Where I savor a bite of S’mores Cookie Dough and talk about how great the texture of the graham cracker is, she’s already on her fourth bite!

What are your favorite local restaurants and markets?  

Rana: We love brunch with the girlies on the weekends at Little Door Next Door; Cafe Midi, where we can sit outside; and Milo and Olive and Huckleberry in Santa Monica.

Grocery shopping is also something I look forward to every week. I enjoy different markets for different things. When I want to explore new products, I go to Bristol Farms and Whole Foods.  When I want ice cream, I head to Gelsons, which carries a great selection. For house staples, I run to Trader Joes.

John: I have a ton of favorites, but really love Milo and Olive, too; and Pace in Laurel Canyon. A staple of ours is Bandera, where Rana was the general manager for a while.

What about your daughters; are they foodies, too? 

Rana: Riley is almost 20 months and is obsessed with sweets. We try to keep her meals balanced, and she has shown a preference for foods like sushi, Thai and Mediterranean—which makes me happy. We lucked out with her eating. She definitely has preferences, but she is not a picky eater.  We’ll see about Emma when she is old enough to eat solids.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Are you a dessert-every-night kind of family? 

Rana: During pregnancy and while I was nursing, we were.  Now that Emma is eight weeks old, I’m trying to move to every other night. We love ice cream with cookie dough—I’ve created a Pinterest board to collect all my favorite ways to eat it: milkshakes, parfaits, and brownie bombs.

How do you balance all those sweet eats? 

Rana: My philosophy is everything in moderation—I can take a bite here and there. I have the discipline to not sit down and eat the whole tub of dough, but maybe that’s because I am around it all the time.

What’s next?

Rana: Two kids under two and a business is quite a challenge! I really want to focus on growing our business. I would love for every cookie dough lover to have the opportunity to grab a spoon!

Photographs courtesy of the Lustyans

Nona Evans of Whole Kids Foundation Wants to Turn Every Kid Into a Passionate Gardener—And Eater

nona-evans

By Lela Nargi

Nona Evans calls her latest job, as Executive Director of Whole Kids Foundation (WKF), penance for the past working lives of her ancestors. “My grandfather on one side of the family owned an Italian restaurant, and my grandfather on the other side started a candy store. They put a lot of sugar and calories out in the world!” she laughs.

Evans started her own work life in a conventional grocery store, in marketing and PR, before she found her way to organic specialty market chain Whole Foods. There, she headed the company’s foray into educating its customers about what children across the country were eating for lunch, and how it affected how they were performing in school. Response to the program was so successful that it became larger than her job description. So, in 2012 she went to the company’s powers that be and they voted to translate her work into WKF, to provide schools with grants to start gardens and salad bars. Evans has been its fearless and passionate leader ever since.

What were you hoping to get out of this project when you started the Foundation four years ago? 
We fully believe that a school garden is the most reasonable investment a school can make. We did lot of research and found that a grant of $2,000 is adequate for a school to implement garden for first time, or for a school with an existing garden to make meaningful transformation: triple it so every class can have bed, or add an outdoor classroom, or add irrigation. But when we started, the idea of gardening at school was just beginning to become something parents and teachers and administrators could consider. Today, awareness of its impact and importance is so much greater, and there’s an openness to the type of learning that can be accomplished with it. I don’t think we’re at the tipping point of being mainstream just yet—the USDA did a survey at end 2014 and found there are only an estimated 20,000 school gardens across the US—but I’m encouraged by the experience of Whole Kids so far.

Well, what are the benefits of a school garden?
The most important thing that school gardens do for our kids is add a hands-on, nature-based learning environment. There are three types of learners: visual, artistic, and kinesthetic. One and three learn best in school garden, so it enhances educational effectiveness for two-thirds of the population. It actually makes the academic portion of what a school is challenged to do more effective. We know from research, and from what Alice Waters did with her Edible Schoolyard Project, that when kids know where their food comes from, they’re more willing to eat a new vegetable. They want to understand the connection between what they eat and how their bodies work: how it helps them perform on the soccer field, or whatever they’re passionate about. The most powerful ingredient we activate is curiosity.

kids-in-garden
WHOLE KIDS SCHOOL GARDENERS. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF WHOLE KIDS FOUNDATION.

Do you do garden experiments on your own kid?
I have a 12-year-old son, Patrick. He’s best case study I could ever have been given. He ate absolutely everything till he was 4 years old. Then one day he came home and said word “yuck,” and I almost fell out of me chair. His girlfriend at daycare, Summer, had said “yuck,” and he became a picky eater, because he could. He would pick the green stuff out of everything. We live in Texas, where we have Tex-Mex rice with everything, and he would pick out every iota cilantro. So, we started gardening. Funnily enough, he decided he wanted to plant cilantro . And he started eating it by handful, because he had that connection. He had grown and nurtured it himself. Even now, I bought some cilantro seedlings a few weeks ago and I found him sitting at the kitchen table, with every leaf picked off it. My caterpillar son!

That experience is very similar to what we find and advocate for with Whole Kids. Give kids a choice and the world opens up. Implement a salad bar at school, and kids are empowered to pick what they want for lunch. They may begin by picking lettuce and carrots and croutons, but by end of the school year, they’re experimenting because of positive peer pressure. They’re eating garbanzo beans.

greens-in-gardenHave you always been a gardener?
Actually I have to credit my husband, John Spillers, who’s a police officer. He was a gardener long before it was fashionable; he was a fan of Square Foot Gardening, that PBS show. He really enabled us to garden as family. Once, for Valentine’s Day, he gave me two new raised beds with spectacular soil in them, a mix of compost and vermiculite and peat moss that produced beautifully. Four years ago, when we moved so we had more room to garden, he moved my dirt.

We make a good team. I’m laissez faire and he’s meticulous. I had the good fortune three years ago to visit the White House garden—talk about meticulously cared for! I came back with every intention of having a pristine garden. But no matter how much time I have to spend in garden, nature is an amazing thing and so much grows, both literally and figuratively. We make sure to take care of our pollinator friends, so this year I planted zinnias for them, and we always put in milkweed for the monarch butterflies, which are experiencing a lot of habitat loss. Last year, we had so may caterpillars, they made a chrysalis across our front door. We saw so many butterflies emerge, which is like it’s magic.

How’s your neighborhood for gardening?
We live in Shady Hollow, which has lots of the old-growth oak trees that are native to area, which is wonderful. But in terms of gardening, I think we were the original catalyst in the neighborhood. There’s a wonderful young man next door, Caulden, who when he was 3 years old wandered into our yard. He tugged on some greens and out came carrot. I still remember the amazement on his face. His mom said he’d never eaten that before and in 10 seconds, it was gone. The kids around here expect them, now. I’m constantly delivering fresh greens and tomatoes to people. I always have bountiful rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, parsley, enough for everyone. And we’ve created a neighborhood share; these days, we’re a wonderful gardening community. Our next door neighbors just started raising chickens. All the kids around here benefit.

Do you also cook from your garden every night?
We’re a two-parent working family. Cooking is my therapy, and I specialize in getting dinner on table 15 minutes or less, and whatever I make it always has lots of herbs from my garden. I love to cook with herbs. But it’s important to have go-to paces for dinner when don’t have energy or time to cook. We try and find places that serve locally-grown ingredients. Anything that has a vegetable combo on the menu, it’s definitely on our list.

What’s your advice for starting a garden for other Austinites, or for anyone who wants to plant something in the ground?
Start with what you love to eat, and don’t be afraid to experiment. There are tons of places in Austin for seeds and seedlings: there’s The Natural Gardener, which promotes native species. There’s a nursery called It’s About Thyme that’s locally-owned; I love anyplace where you can get to know the owners. And we love High Mowing Organic Seeds, which is one of the best seed suppliers in the country—you can order seeds online. But it’s also important to remember that you don’t have to have a huge back yard. Your garden can be as small as a windowsill or a pot you put on your patio. Just give it a shot!

Photographs of Nona and Patrick, and bed of greens, courtesy of Nona Evans.

Carina Tannenberg Wants to Demystify Poop for American Kids and Parents

Carina Tannenberg

By Lela Nargi

Carina Tannenberg is the owner of online shop Sweden Toys, which brings a whole host of adorable, educational Scandinavian playthings to American tots.  But perhaps none of the shop’s offerings is quite as…unexpected as its duo of plushies called Pee & Poo.

You read that right: Pee & Poo plushies, meant to lift some of the mystery for kids from the always tedious and challenging event of potty training. Here, Tannenberg, not a mom herself but doting auntie to Maya, age 10, and Noah, age 8—they call her their “extra mom”—talks about what she sees as some critical differences between raising kids in the U.S. and raising them in her native Sweden.

Where did you grow up, and when did you move to the U.S.? I moved here in 1996 to go to film school. I currently live in LA’s Westwood area, where I’ve been for the last 15 years. There are some similarities here to back home in Stockholm: I live in a residential area in a big city. I think it’s a good place for kids to grow up, but it is not as free here for them. My niece, Maya, rides on the Stockholm subway by herself or with friends. I think that shows a lot about the difference in how we perceive a child’s maturity.

What are some of the differences you’ve seen between Swedish and American parenting styles? I know many of my Swedish friends who are parents feel locked into all the rules. But in Sweden you can easily have a career and be a mother. Here, it is very difficult, as schools seem to expect mothers to spend a lot of time with the school’s programs, as if they have a free schedule.

I also see is how important it is for kids to see that they can do things for themselves; being so dependent on their parents, as they must be in LA to get everywhere, can prevent them from evolving freely. I would add that there is a gender difference that is imposed more here than in Sweden. We are very careful in Sweden not to impose our ideas on our kids, and to try to let them learn and grow freely.

What’s your background, and how did you get involved in selling kid’s toys?I have a degree in Building Engineering from a university in Stockholm, Art and Graphic Design from a university in Paris, and Film Producing and Business from a school here in LA. Overall, I am interested in design and wellbeing, but especially for kids. I have Swedish friends who have designed these amazing products, and I wanted to get them out there.

The response to Pee & Poo has been great! I believe that even at a very young age, kids like to learn responsibility. I think this is why they love dolls and puppies so loved much—caring for them is in our nature. Once we find that teddy bear we love, we become very involved and “listen” very carefully to what it needs. With the Pee & Poo characters, we can get the child’s attention and explain how Pee & Poo needs to go to the potty and not in the diaper. We will also soon come out with Apps for Pee & Poo potty training, so that the child can be part of a rewarding program for their potty visit.

You are a breast cancer survivor. How has this changed your perspective on what you do? I was diagnosed in 2010 and I have been clear for 5 years, so I can call myself “cancer free!” I have always been interested in health and wellbeing—both physical and mental, they go together. I believe this interest started at a young age, so working with kids and health makes my life so exciting.

Going through cancer was life changing. When you don’t know if there is a tomorrow, you let go of all of your expectations and start to look at life as new again. Everything in front of you becomes a blessing because you no longer can expect anything—like a child; children are so excited about everything. It’s amazing to be able to have that again as a grown.

Women Helping Women is The Hivery’s Greatest Gift—To Women

hivery-woman

By Lela Nargi

What does a mom who’s eager to get back to work—or start a new chapter of her worklife— want for the holidays? If she lives within striking distance of Mill Valley, CA, no doubt she wants a membership to The Hivery, a two-year-old cooperative workspace, where women can meet and brainstorm whatever comes next in their lives. Mothers helping mothers is a concept as old as human society, and in this newest iteration, many other like-minded organizations have sprung up across the country. But to find out what’s so important about this sort of community, and why its time has so assuredly come, we caught up with Hivery founder and former ballet dancer Grace Kraaijvanger.

Where did you grow up and what was the worklife that was modeled for you? I grew up in a house full of girls; I was the oldest of four daughters. I am very close to my sisters, Emily, Maggie, and Abby. My dad was a pilot in the Air Force so we moved every few years. I grew up having to be flexible and make new friends often. I think that has served me well as an adult as I’m not afraid of change. My mom worked when I was younger and then stayed home later in my childhood. She was my hero as she was the perfect blend of a progressive, modern woman, but she also loved and respected her role as our mom. She passed away four years ago and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss her. She was a huge inspiration for me in opening The Hivery, and caring for her was my biggest lesson in not waiting on the things that make us feel vibrant and alive. I hope to pass on to my kids—Jane, 12, and Ben, 10—the unconditional love she gave to me and my sisters, as well as her sparkle, zest, and her feisty humor.

What’s your own work background? I studied marketing at the University of Arizona. I received a dance scholarship there and was thrilled to be part of their dance department. Ultimately, I received a degree in marketing, and my first job out of college was in the marketing department for a big tech firm, but I missed the community of dance and the arts. I created a marketing consulting firm so that I’d be able to pay the bills with marketing work, and still rehearse and perform with amazing professional dance companies and choreographers in San Francisco. I felt like I was able to blend business and the arts, by melding two very different careers. The Hivery was a further extension of creating a vibrant, creative community, with a business that serves a very specific need. I knew that women are seeking connection with other vibrant women, and that we all want to create meaningful work that fits into various stages and responsibilities within our lives. The Hivery is a place of creative connection and support, in addition to being a gorgeous, vibrant, co-working space for women.

When I became a mom, it became even more apparent to me how much we seek connection and support from other women in our community. We need to know that we aren’t in it alone, both as moms, and outside of motherhood. We need to know that it’s okay to want to create something meaningful for ourselves, and that we can count on other women to empower us to do that in a way that feels authentic.

How do you see this happening? At The Hivery, we talk a lot about cultivating what’s next for women. We provide programs and workspace for women to explore their next career, start their own business, or create work that works in their lives. I’m in the lucky position of getting to hear from women about what inspires us, and also what scares or stops us from doing work we truly want to do. The Hivery isn’t just about a place to work (although we have created a stunning place for that) but it’s also about connection and the idea that whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The Hivery is founded on a firm belief that together, women can do anything.

Do you have plans for your second year of business and beyond? We certainly have plans to expand The Hivery, with new locations opening in 2016. This first location has been a beautiful guide for us on what women want and need to create work enlivens them, and how to clarify what’s next for them. We have women asking us constantly when we will open The Hivery in their area, and our answer is SOON! We are thrilled to have received such support and momentum, and we know that this is part of a movement for women to support and empower each other.

hiverys-focus-loungeWhat’s your family life like? We live in Mill Valley, California, just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I am in love with where I live. We are surrounded by redwoods and stunning hiking trails, yet can be in the energy of San Francisco in just 15 minutes. I feel so fortunate to live and build my business here. We lead busy lives like so many parents in our time, but we love taking it slow, too, and spending the day at the beach or taking a long hike together. Both my kids love to surf, ski, and mountain bike and I love that they can take advantage of all those things where we live!

When I need an urban fix, we hang out in our old neighborhoods in the city, the Mission, and wander the eclectic and creative streets of Valencia Street. As a lifetime dancer, I never tire of seeing professional dance, and love taking the kids along when I can. I think that seeing other artists in action reminds them of the creativity and potential they have inside, as well as broadening their minds to all that humans can do!

Photographs courtesy of Grace Kraaijvanger

Meet Phoebe Hayman, founder of Seedling, Los Angeles, CA

Phoebe and her family

As told to Lela Nargi

Where are you from originally? I spent much of my childhood in the US and then moved back to New Zealand (where I was born) in my tween years. I studied Fine Arts in Auckland, and it made me understand what an important role creativity plays in our lives. I naturally sought out creative and hands-on experiences when my kids were little and realized how limited the offering was to create quality creative moments for kids; I thought there had to be a simpler and more positive experience out there. Kids are so excited and curious around exploring what they can do with their own two hands, I really wanted something that fully supported that spirit. So, I created [activity kit site] Seedling!

You’re living in L.A. with your family now. What made you choose this location? My husband, Suraj, and our two sons Kieran (age 12) and Ashwyn (age 10) moved back to open a US office for Seedling. I have been humbled and thankful for how supportive my family has been around this. We choose L.A. because it is still close to home but has everything Seedling needs to succeed: great talent, an inspirational startup community, easy access to the rest of the US and our favorite venture capital investors. We just visited New Zealand for the holidays and our favorite thing is seeing all our wonderful family, closely followed by the food which we ate far too much of! We often have family visiting and the handy thing is that L.A. is a stopover for many New Zealanders traveling around the world, so we get to see a lot of family and friends throughout the year.

We love living in Southern California, because we really enjoy the opportunities our kids have to experience the diversity of communities. Just going in any direction 20 minutes puts us in a different culture we love exploring. When my family visits, we love taking them to the beaches and eating at our favorite restaurants; when we go to New Zealand, we love visiting the beaches and eating at our favorite restaurants. I guess we are creatures of habit.

What’s a typical day like for your family? I get to enjoy breakfast with the kids before getting on the train to go to work. My husband takes the kids to school and then their sports in the afternoon, while I work through a day of meetings. We enjoy dinner together most nights, if the kids’ sports schedules allow it.

On the weekends, we usually have some kind of sporting commitment but when we don’t, we love to go on walks, play tennis, go to the beach, or hang out at home doing our own projects. My kids love to read and build things, I love to read and paint, while my husband enjoys tennis and catching up on current events. I also love taking photos of my favorite people so there are photos all over our house; actually, we all enjoy our creative moments so there are works of art all over the place (even my husband, who doesn’t think he is creative, has a masterpiece on the fridge)

When we get the chance to go a little further afield, we love experiencing new communities, a few of our favorites are Laguna for the arts festivals and San Juan Capistrano for the amazing mission village but we’re still discovering so many spots!

Are there any issues that are really important to your family? Supporting our communities at a local level is important to us and you’ll often find us volunteering at the various sports and school communities that we belong to. Without this level of support, kids wouldn’t have the opportunities they have and we are big supporters of opportunities for kids both in our personal and professional lives.

And what about Seedling—what’s in store? Big plans! There are so many ways that kids love to play and we’re focused on supporting it in many forms. If we can imagine an open-ended play opportunity, we plan on building it and bringing it to families around the world. 2016 will see some very big product releases for us and we’re super excited about it. Watch this space!

Profiles of Childhood: Rachel Policar, Opera Singer and Sitter, New York, NY

Policar poses in the trees beside the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center

POLICAR POSES IN THE TREES BESIDE THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE AT LINCOLN CENTER

As told to Lela Nargi

“I grew up in a town called Issaquah, WA, 20 miles east of Seattle. Then I went to Arizona State University for my undergraduate degrees in vocal performance and musical theater before moving to New York five years ago.

Now I am a coloratura soprano, which is a classification of soprano that sings a high and fast repertoire. It’s a little bit challenging because you’re expected to be perfect at all times, so it requires a tremendous amount of dedication and practice and time spent learning and working on your craft. But I love it, and it allows me to play a lot of fun roles.

I just sang my first Gilda in Rigoletto by Verdi this summer. She’s more of a lyric soprano but she has some coloratura elements to her, and that stretched me out as a singer and gave me a whole new bag of tricks to pull from. I’ll be doing my fourth Gretel this January with the Knoxville Opera’s outreach program. I get hired more often than not to play very young girls, because I don’t look super old and I’m on the small side. I love playing children. It helps me relate to the children I babysit for, and they love when I show them pictures of myself in costume as a little girl. They think that’s the coolest thing they’ve ever seen.

Upon request, I’ve shown a couple of my kids YouTube videos of me singing. One little girl I babysit for regularly was obsessed with a recording I have of West Side Story and insisted that we sing together. Her mother asked me recently if I teach voice, and that would be the ultimate reward for me—to take a child I’ve babysat for and introduce her to the world I live in most of the time.

Mostly, though, kids have a lot of questions about opera singing. The number one question hands-down is: Can you break a glass with your voice? It’s actually very difficult to do that; you have to sing a really high note very loudly. I can’t do it yet, but maybe someday! Then they ask me how I make so much sound come out of my mouth. They ask me a lot of questions about costumes, and they want to know everything about opera, which is great. I like to think I’m building the next generation of opera lovers.

My first teacher, Phyllis Peterson, was 80 years old when I met her. She had fire engine red hair, and she was about 5’1”—a tiny powerhouse. Her energy and smarts, especially when she was telling me stories about her amazing life and career, made me feel like I was part of something special. She encouraged me to try things I wouldn’t necessarily have wanted to do on my own and helped me to find myself. Her passion was inspiring. And I’ve come to realize that what I’m able to do really is special.

Being in a creative field, opera singers are by nature emotional beings and very in touch with what we’re thinking and feeling—in much the same way that a child is. Children have this wonderful innocence and generosity; they’re not afraid to share with you everything that’s going on. Singers have so much of that in what we do, too, and I love that kind of interaction with the kids I babysit for. I also love playing games with them. Inevitably, I’ll be shocked by something they’ve thought up, and frustrated and challenged. It opens your imagination to be able to relate to kids on that level and not have that fear of judgment. I’m not afraid to get on the floor and roll around.

You have to be physically fit to have the stamina to make it through an opera. Your vocal chords are two little muscle membranes that sit in your throat, and they require exercise and strengthening and just as much practice as running football sprints does. To sing those amazingly long phrases over an orchestra, opera singers have the same lung capacity as some Olympic swimmers. But it’s really fun to open your mouth and have this enormous sound come out. You get to wear these beautiful clothes, and put on wigs, and have people do your makeup, and take on these characters that sometimes are wildly different from who you are. Yes, it’s a profession but we also get to play for a living.”

Photograph by Roy Beeson