Q: How do you and Tony work together?
A: Tony starts playing one of his creations on his guitar, and as I listen to it, I look through all the poems that I’ve written, seeking out the right one to pair with the mood of the music. For whatever reason, its almost like the poem lights itself up and says “Pick me! Pick me!”. Once I’ve settled on which lyrics will be paired with his music, I turn on my little MP3 recorder and we just jam. We’re totally improvising and creating the melody as we go. Sometimes we get it nearly perfect right away, and sometimes it takes several tries to craft the song the way we like it.

Q: Do you write the lyrics and does Tony write the music?
A: Yes.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for lyrics?
A: It all started when I was going through my divorce. I needed to purge the overwhelming emotions that were consuming me at the time, so I started to write poems. I noticed that these poems were small snapshots of the chaos inside my head and it allowed my mind to be still for a moment. Though I’m not as sad as I was back then, I do notice it is easier to write songs when you’re sad, than when you’re happy.

Q: What do you do for fun and excitement besides music?
A: Oh, lots of things. I dance whenever I can. Most recently, I’ve picked up pole dancing, but I truly love Salsa dancing and other forms of ballroom dance. I love to travel, so I do it as often as possible. But I also have a lot of fun volunteering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I am a scuba diver in the Sea Otter exhibit, and I work with the Penguins. I love working with the animals and contributing what I can to educating people about how to protect our oceans.

Q: Where do you go, and what do you do when you travel?
A: Most of the time I go on dive vacations. True to my title song, “Sirena”, I am a mermaid. I’ve gone scuba diving all over the world and enjoy seeing the beauty under the water’s surface. The ocean is my temple and I frequently go there to reflect on life.