About
How I got here
I'm a fabulous, sparkle-powered autistic creative and scholar spreading rainbows and joy from the vibrant edges of New Orleans. I'm a geek at heart — a career built in technology, IT management, and programming, and a passion for detail and minutiae in all my studies. I'm constantly learning, constantly building, absorbing the world around me. My Jewish heritage and LGBTQ+ identity add their own colors to my tapestry, and life experience makes that tapestry glow.
I made choices that caused real harm to other people, my community, and my family, and I take unequivocal responsibility for those harms. Mental health struggles and past trauma painted the scene, but they don't excuse the choices I made; the final strokes are mine. I was convicted and incarcerated in federal prison for five years. Facing what I'd done and the trauma I caused others was hard, emotional teshuva work that transformed me. I changed from a self-centered person who avoided accountability and excused negative, harmful behavior to someone who is building a life around honesty, repair, and helping others do the same.
My time incarcerated coincided with the COVID pandemic, and in a crowded, high-risk environment, infection was close to inevitable — I contracted it three times. The third infection left me with significant Long COVID, affecting me both physically and mentally, and forcing me to slow down. That slowness has its own gifts: time to watch the wondrous wildlife and plants in the yard, to actually notice the life around me. The brain fog means I have to work harder for my words, and that effort has made them more honest, more deliberate, more mine. Disability reshaped my journey and led me to my real passion: building places where people belong — brave, radically inclusive, supportive spaces where people can connect, learn, and be who they are.
These days I'm working with Judaism Unbound to build a thriving, vibrant online community, and I'm starting the path toward becoming a rabbinic student, building on years of Jewish learning and community leadership. I write about community building, Jewish futures, neurodivergent life, and Long COVID on Substack. As an AI maggid, I explore what it means to carry Jewish wisdom into conversation with artificial intelligence — old texts meeting new questions — and I advocate for AI built and used responsibly, especially as a tool that can open doors for disabled people rather than close them.
I still occasionally design custom websites for clients that mirror the magic of the person behind them, and I compose personalized musical treasures as Pibbles & The Rainbow Pixels to joyfully celebrate important things in life. When I'm not doing any of that, I'm snuggling two adorable cats, tending several acres of land full of life and wonder, and sharing adventures with my wonderful husband.
Music
Pibbles & The Rainbow Pixels
For my anniversary a few years ago, I wanted to do something different, something unique for my husband. After surfing around looking at all sorts of things, I landed on the idea of writing him a song. I can write lyrics (with some help on rhyming, phrasing, and structure), but writing an accompaniment and melody are beyond me. So I turned to AI and was stunned by the outcome.
Since then, I have been writing songs as Pibbles & The Rainbow Pixels to express my emotions and capture special times in my journey. Oh, and yeah, my husband was over the moon about the song.
Writing
Sparkly thoughts, mostly on purpose
Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have faith in people, that they're good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.