about
Canary in a coalmine
Canary Studios derives its name from the canaries that were brought into mining sites as early detectors of carbon monoxide. As highly sensitive beings, they were able to detect danger earlier than their human companions and save lives at the cost of their own. ​
​
Highly Sensitive People, neurodivergent folks, and those with trauma are often the Canaries in business, politics, relationships, and life. While this sensitivity is a superpower, it's also not worth depleting yourself or putting yourself in dangerous situations.
​
Canary Studios supports the Canary's life cycle from 1. Stabilizing yourself in your current situation so you can make better choices from a healthy, mindful place, 2. Aligning to the future you want and creating a functional plan to make big changes, and 3. Taking the leap to your new life with all the tools you'll need to succeed.
​
Canary Studios started as a creative operations agency and evolved to support the people we understand the most - the other Canaries.
“You were born to be among the advisors and thinkers, the spiritual and moral leaders for your society. There is every reason for pride.”
​
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
my Story
​INFJ | Scorpio | Enneagram 5w4
​
Like you, I'm a business owner who is passionate about what I do and the people I work with.
After receiving my Broadcast Journalism degree from DePaul University, I quickly realized I didn’t want to work in news, but I loved production. To buy myself some time, I got my first yoga teaching certificate and fell in love with that, too. Between my polymath curiosity and strong Midwestern work ethic, I took a strange and wonderfully circuitous career path before landing in corporate leadership.
In corporate world I was driven, passionate, and motivated…and quickly had the wind taken out of my sails. I realized I was out of place - a yoga teacher and creative, climbing a corporate ladder to nowhere.
​
I grew tired.
Tired of working for people who didn't live the values they preached.
Tired of being the only woman in a room while men spoke over me and down to me.
Tired of male colleagues asking me to take notes for them.
I was tired of having my character attacked for speaking my mind.
Tired of asking others not to relay gossip about my colleagues.
Tired of not being able to trust the people I worked with.
I was tired of working 70-80 hour weeks to get the job done well, without the support I needed, and when I burned out, I was told it was my fault and that I shouldn't have worked so hard.
I was tired of being told how good I had it and how grateful I should be.
So I left. And I started Canary Studios with a mission of living in alignment with my values and helping others do the same.
​
Through the path to finding an authentic, aligned working environment, I found that a few things are always true:
​
-
The more you know yourself, the better you can find your authentic, aligned path forward.
-
Understanding the superpowers of high sensitivity and neurodivergence will unlock so many more possibilities that feel great in your system.
-
Doing anything new — leaving a job that doesn’t fit, planning your path forward, learning how to be a business owner — is much faster and easier with a trusted guide.
Fun (and regular) facts
Values
Integrity
Communication
Continuous Improvement
Intuition
Freedom
Humor
Loves
Besides helping Canaries find alignment in work and life, I'm in love with dogs, hiking, being near or on (not in) the ocean, Scotland, scifi books and movies, and history.
yoga
I am a yoga teacher and yoga therapist with thousands of hours of training and thousands more hours in teaching experience. My yoga therapy specialty is trauma, and I've been teaching a Yoga for Veterans group for over 12 years.
Ask me anything
Drop a line and ask us anything. We'll return your message as soon as we can.
