Built from
lived experience.
I grew up in a family where imagination was just part of daily life — my mother painted murals across the walls of our home, my father approached every problem like an engineer. I never thought of creativity as a talent. It was a language. And it became the way I survived everything that came next.
In my twenties I was touring the country doing stand-up comedy — Boston to Los Angeles — while raising two kids and stretching every dollar creatively enough to keep life moving forward. All while navigating Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that has shaped how I move through the world.
As my health shifted, I kept noticing how many everyday things were built without people like me in mind. Tasks most people never think about — like closing a jacket — could suddenly shape my whole day. It wasn't that I wasn't capable. It was that the world wasn't built for my body's new reality.
And for some reason, Massachusetts still refuses to honor my very reasonable request for 72-degree dry heat year-round. Since I couldn't fix the weather, I started fixing what I could control.
For people navigating mobility changes, the options felt bleak: expensive adaptive clothing, clinical-looking garments, or needing help for a basic zipper. I didn't want a medical label. I wanted to wear my own coat.
