Questions:
Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?
A: Well, funny story because I was never trying to be an artist. It was one of those things where it fell in my lap and everything that I was trying to do in my life that I felt like I needed to do or I had to do or was expected of me. It was so hard because I feel like it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing and Art was just always a thing where I was doing it on the side and people really wanted it out of me and I was just like, Really? You really want me to paint your dog? Like, are you sure because I don’t think it looks that great. And they just loved it. So that’s kind of where it started, where I was in school at AAU for communications, and I was so bombarded with orders by the time that I graduated, I couldn’t even fill out a resume to apply for a job. I was a full-time artist.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Augusta and what do you love there?
A: I can’t pick one because I love them all. So two times a week we go out to eat and I’ll tell you the ones we go to the most. We go to Soy Noodle House, it’s so like underrated but it’s phenomenal. And it’s one of those places where it’s not busy a lot so I kind of don’t want to tell people about it cause it’s gonna get super busy. We love it because there’s no wait ever. And then I love doing girls’ night at The Bee’s Knees. And then I truly love Craft & Vine because after you work really hard all day, you just want someone to care about your drink. They love to make your drink with so much love and they’ll put it in the most beautiful glass and each time you kind of like get a different one. And I love stuff like that.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in Augusta?
A: I’m born and raised here and I have always felt really rooted and tied here. And when all of my friends wanted to go away to school, I just felt like I don’t want to do that, I want to stay here and make things better and I guess I’m just a small-town girl.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?
A: I really wanted to go to Amalfi Coast.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies?
A: I really love Forrest Gump. I don’t know why, but I used to watch it over and over and over again when I was younger. It was so classic and really good story.
Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: I guess just be yourself though it’s so cliche but I think it’s so important to remain in tune with yourself and that could mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: I really wish that maybe I could play the acoustic guitar and write a song and sing it one day just like a one-time thing in a coffee shop, I would love to do that. I think when I get some free time or when I free up some time, I would like to take some vocal lessons.
Q: What is your go favorite music?
A: I love everything. I love like Raunchy, I like old school a lot, R and B or Rap, I love jazz, I love anything that soulful love and soulful music probably is my favorite.
Q: What are the three bands you would like to see? Dead or alive?
A: I’m not a concert person but I love Sublime, it’s a reggae band, they had an interesting life and made some choices though I don’t think a lot of them are alive now but I am so sad that I missed not ever seeing them.
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Augusta?
A: I would say Book Tavern because they stuck around for some time now through so much of downtown’s droughts and revitalization. Actually, I don’t read a ton of books, I actually listened to books on audible because I paint. So I love books but I’ve always listened to them because it’s just quicker that way too. I’m kind of a flow reader so I love like that feel like going in there, it takes me back to all the times that I was there and all the different phases of my life.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about Augusta?
A: He is an architect that did like the loop and many like other popular things. He actually came to Augusta and did the top of the Lamar building and he did that add to the penthouse and the medians. And a lot of people don’t realize and know that. And so if you were looking down, so if you go inside like the Pinnacle Club or whatever and you look down, you can see that in the medians. He put smiley faces in the Medians where the fountains are set. It makes these cute little smiley faces and you would never notice it until my husband and I were having drinks at the Pinnacle Club and I noticed it and I looked it up and sure enough he did that on purpose. He’s a phenomenal architect.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
A: I want to have some passive income streams and I want to make money in my sleep. I see myself having at least one kid and in a cottage-like on the hill making it our own.
Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A: I wouldn’t say as interesting, I think people think that because I am 4’11” and I’m very petite and I just look sweet and they think that I’m just the nicest person but what they find out very quickly is that I cannot be crossed.I find that I have respect for all ages and all people. I love talking to kids ‘coz I think they can bring out the youth in us, then I think that teenagers teach us how to be maybe a little cooler and the elderly like obviously have intelligent things to say in advice.
Q: Can you describe the neighborhood you grew up in?
A: We all played outside. We can not come in until the street lights came on and we didn’t matter how hot it was, you needed to go get a Popsicle or drink out of the hose. We were kind of left to our own devices in a way that made for very funny stories. We’re doing things probably shouldn’t have been. I would say like a working-class neighborhood like some people cared about their homes and some people didn’t so it was just a mixed bag.
Q: What 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
A: Sanctuary, Peace, and A lot of chores.
Q: If you were cast in a movie and could choose your co-star, who would it be?
A: I love Jake Gyllenhaal and I have to say that I think my husband looks like him.
Q: If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose? Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, or Nanny?
A: A Driver sounds really nice because I hate driving.
Q: If you could hold onto one memory from your life forever, what would that be?
A: My sister and I used to fight a lot, but then we became best friends and so now we’re best rooms and I mean I’m talking about like we did not get along at all and I think just the funniest thing now. And there’s this one time, I love this memory where we were there, My friend which is our cousin too was moving out of her parents’ house and she had her mattresses like on the grass and a big storm was coming and we were like so young, I think we’re like 20 and 22 or something and a big storm was coming and her boyfriend was supposed to come pick up the mattresses. And so our friend was freaking out because she’s like, “Oh I’ve got these on the line and it’s about to rain, like my mattresses can’t get wet.” So we were like let’s just stop worrying and let’s just have fun cause it was like super stressful moving day. And this like huge storm came and apparently a tornado-like occurred down the street and it was like a mini-tornado came and it just started like pouring down rain and we were just all like laughing hysterically jumping up and down on the mattress in the middle of the yard in the right.
Q: Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?
A: I think my husband because he just doesn’t complain about anything. He takes full responsibility for everything in his life. And I’ve learned to be a human that you didn’t really ask to be here and you’re just kinda like thrown into this complicated, messy world and relationships and you don’t get to choose and so you have to make the best of it. And the best thing to do is just take responsibility and not be like the victim or just like create your own world.
Q: If you could share one piece of advice, what would it be?
A: This is something that I’ve learned lately is that when you have like a poor mindset or like a scarcity mindset, because my parents were very young so when I was growing up they did their best and I didn’t have a lot of extra stuff laying around, so I had to be extremely resourceful. And that just held me back so much so the day that I realized that if I had an abundance mindset and that I believed that I could have thought it’s not about having what you want or having a nice car and I just have to have whatever, it’s about like if you believe your value in that right then I believe that it opens up so much better for you and that things can come your way, opportunities can come your way and when you finally started to do that.
Thank you April. You made my experience easy and comfortable. To new beginnings. Friends for Life.
