I keep finding myself ahead of my time. Early on it was with my art. I created what I called polestars, a staff to carry at festivals and concerts, with the intention for them to spread positivity, being satellites of love to an inebriated crowd. My favorite was a bronze painted childs’ mannequin head wearing an Elizabethan like collar with colorful strips of fabric hanging down. You see dozens of “polestars” at festivals now. Though I don’t think what I had in mind is necessarily their intention today.

In 1992, I was living with Atlanta’s first ever body piercer. Myself and all four of my male roommates got pierced by him, literally from head to groin. At the time it was done not only as body adornment but as a way of experiencing the adrenaline rush from being pierced. It was ceremonial for us. I had never heard of people being body pierced anywhere besides the ears and nose before then, except in Africa. Yet within a few years, body piercing became a big fad, though only for body adornment.

Around 1996 I got into body paint and henna as a true artform and started to do it professionally soon after. This was before most Americans knew what henna was or had even seen many people fully artistically body painted. I did not meet another body painter for years. Today, I have one of the longest running careers as a body artist that I know of.

Around that same time, I established one of the first recycling centers for artists, Recycle for the Arts in New Orleans. I had heard of one in NYC and went to visit it to get some guidance. The director and I became fast friends. It was nice to meet someone else like me.

In 2005 I went to my first ayahuasca ceremony. I had actually read about this plant medicine a decade earlier, knowing I was meant to experience it someday when my psyche was ready. I immediately recognized its ability for healing and I wanted to share it with other seekers. Several ceremonies in South America and a year later, I was one of the first people to bring ayahuasca to the US, with shamans from Colombia and Peru.

Since then, I have pioneered by building one of the first Earthships in the southeastern US, becoming a distributor of full spectrum CBD oil and now I have created an occupation as an Animal Communicator and Death Doula.

I am pioneering so many things in this life. It’s weird seeing this pattern where I keep being ahead of the curve. So why does the universe keep putting me ahead of my time? Astrology has never really interested me but recently I had a reading from another psychic and learned that Aries are the pioneers of the zodiac. Who knew? At least now I have some explanation. But why me? I guess I am just in that cycle of the zodiac.

Pioneering is not easy, that’s for sure. At first people tend to think you are nuts to do what you are doing. Some people do champion for you but it’s hard to find others like yourself. However, I have learned to ignore the critics, knowing from experience that what I am doing may be main stream in the future. I am just following my heart and I have been blessed to get encouragement from those who believe in me from the start.