I grew up in a small town called South Surrey, which is 45 minutes south of Vancouver, Canada. As a kid, I rode my bike around my cul-de-sac wearing a hand-me-down wedding veil while riding with my hands in the air. Not that I would know it at the time, but 20 years later I would find myself riding a red bicycle down a hill in Taipei, Taiwan, with my hands in the air, feeling the freedom from a bad breakup.

The house I grew up in was a 10-minute walk down the hill to Crescent Beach. When I was in high school, my best friend (who remains my best friend), Brione Bruce, and other friend and I would play Baywatch after school. We would walk down the hill to the beach and jump off the pier, while calling Mitch for Back-up. We would then swim through the boat channel to the sandbar. Unfortunately, one afternoon, the real lifeguards drove their dinghy out to the sandbar, picked us up, drove us back to the pier (in front of everyone at the beach), and reminded us there is no swimming in the boat channel.

I spent my early 20s living in Vancouver, BC with my two other best friends, Tanya Nathan and Kathy Osenenko. The three of us met on the first day of undergrade at the University of British Columbia on the 4th floor of Dene House in Totem Park Residence. I was saying goodbye to my parents and trying very hard not to cry (even though they still lived in the house up the hill from Crescent Beach, 45 minutes away). My mom encouraged me to walk across the hall to meet the “nice girl” in the other single room. And we have been friends ever since.

After completing my undergraduate degree, I spent a year teaching English to preschool kids in Taipei, Taiwan. Although I loved the freedom of living abroad and dancing all night at The Ministry of Sound with my friends, I wanted to come home. A few weeks after I came home, I went to a party with my friend from work, Manda. Manda’s friend owned a house in East Vancouver with a martini room. I love martinis, so I threw caution to the wind and went to the party even though I had to wake up at 5am the next morning for work. After two martinis, a guy walked up to me. I thought he looked cute but couldn’t be sure because by that point I had drank those two martinis. Midway through our very long chat, this guy turned around to say hi to his friend, and I took that as my cue to make a quick exit. I will forever be thankful for Manda because, after driving me home, she drove back to the party to get “that guy’s” business card. Turns out, “that guy” was an eternal student and didn’t have a business card but did have an email address.

That guy, who’s name is Dennis, and I emailed and had our first date at Benny’s Bagels on Broadway in Vancouver. During our date, I played it cool by acting aloof by not making conversation, and instead thinking that Dennis spent a lot of time talking about himself. Dennis, after dropping me off at my apartment, said to himself, “I better turn up the heat because the ice princess just left.” Despite all of this, a few years later, Dennis and I moved to Edmonton. As we were driving down Stoney Plain Road, on our way to our new life together, I remember thinking there are no trees and to many pawn shops. I looked over at Den and thought, “well, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll find an apartment by myself and carry on.” Little did I know that Den was looking at me thinking ‘this is the woman I’m going to marry.’

And we did get married!

After our wedding I completed my PhD in Public Health that the University of Alberta. I spent five years working with HIV+ individuals who called themselves chaotic (they were unstably housed, used drugs, were in and out of jail, and participated in the sex trade), but took their HIV medication every day. And this is very hard to do! My team of researchers celebrated their success and wanted to learn their secrets to taking their medication everyday despite “living in chaos.” I was also fortunate to meet and spend five years working alongside my mentor, Maria Mayan. Maria introduced me to qualitative methods, specifically ethnography, and taught me how to think differently. She also sat with me one morning over coffee planning out the best time during my PhD to get pregnant.

Turns out I can’t plan for pregnancy! I went through years of IVF, failed IVF transfers, multiple miscarriages, all to end in the best way. Today, Dennis and I still live in Edmonton with our TWO wonderful kids, Miles and Margot, French bulldog, Franklin, and Tigercat, Hamilton Bruiser Lefebvre. All of my experiences have culminated into my photography practice of using my camera to photograph my family, without directing them or asking them to pose and move into the light, to understand my experience in the world. And I am lucky enough to make photographs like the riding bike wearing a wedding veil with and for my family!

 Curriculum Vitae