About Melissa

Who am I?

melissa-goofyI am an artist.

I am a jazz singer.

I am a writer.

I am a teacher.

I am a Renaissance Woman.

I am a Multi-Passionate Creative ARTrepreneur.

I am an Artist & Inspirationalist,

I am a Creativity Instigator,

I am a Creativity EVANGELIST!

I also clearly have a bit of a naming neurosis.

Here’s my story:

I’ve always had a zillion passions, and for years I split my various identities across multiple ventures and websites. After all, the world seems to want to pigeon-hole us, and the business gurus all tell you to niche yourself, right?

The problem is, for some of us this just doesn’t work.

For me it led to a sense of disconnectedness and discombobulation, and was just plain exhausting. Where to focus my energies? I felt like I was always giving some part of me short shrift, and the jewel of my true being never got to really shine.

Plus introducing myself at parties was a bit of a nightmare.

Thankfully, I figured out a solution. It took awhile, but I finally came to the realization that not only could I bring all of my facets together, but if I did it would create a more brilliantly glittering whole, and probably propel me forward.

Hence this website, the central hub and online setting for my many-faceted self and offerings.

And the title?

I tried on Renaissance Woman for awhile, but too many people either drew a blank (Europeans, especially – seems the phrase is more American than its origination would imply), or thought I was into historical re-enactment.

Nothing against Ren Faires, but they’re not what I’m about.

So then I became a Multi-Passionate Creative ARTrepreneur.

I thank Marie Forleo for the “Multi-Passionate” part. “Creative” is self-explanatory. Although I spent much of my life trying to fit myself into a different-shaped hole, I’m a Creative through and through. And “Artrepreneur,” because although of course I’m a business person, my business is less about the business of business, and more about art and creativity in its various forms. Where an entrepreneur may be interested in business for its own sake, my interests lie in making my creativity itself a sustainable business.

Multi-Passionate Creative ARTrepreneur did a good job of combining my identities under one umbrella, but it was kind of a mouthful. And it didn’t make introducing myself at parties any less complicated.

What it did do was avoid the “slasher syndrome.” But to be truly effective, a title should explain what you do, not just sound cool.

So I’m currently back to slashing, as an Artist & Inspirationalist. (Or should I say, “ampersanding”?)

Yes, I still have a lot of explaining to do at parties (and the title doesn’t fully incorporate the music side of me), but having a conversation about who I am and what I do in relation to who you are and what you do is much more up my alley than just making an announcement and handing off my business card anyway. (We introverts despise those kinds of parties with a passion.)

A few other relevant facts, for those who are interested in these kinds of things:

I’m a 4 on the Enneagram — sometimes called “the Artist,” sometimes called “the Tragic Romantic.”

I’m an INFJ, but I’m a performer and have learned to be very outgoing, so people actually argue with me that I’m not an introvert. I’m not an extreme introvert, but I’m an introvert. Get over it.

My top five Strengthsfinder 2.0 strengths are (in order): Connectedness, Achiever, Input, Futuristic, and Positivity.

I love animals, and when I was a kid I felt more connected to animals than people. (Sometimes that’s still true today.)

When I was 2 1/2 I was going to grow up to be a cat. (My older brother told me I couldn’t, but my parents assured me I could be anything I wanted, which, to my great delight, irked my brother no end.)

I’m very proud of being a 4th generation Californian and grew up in Silicon Valley back before it was Silicon Valley.

My favorite charity is Animals Asia – check them out. They rock.

I’m a natural teacher – I’ve taught dance, voice, calligraphy & book arts, Torah trope, yoga, web technologies to technophobes, nursery school – and cannot help myself from helping out when someone has a need I can contribute to.

I have a dream of overcoming my perpetual untidiness problem, but only small hope of ever completely doing so. (And have recently learned, to my great relief, that INFJs are typically organized thinkers, but disorganized in their physical environment. Yup.)

To discover more about who I am, what I have to share, take a peek around. As you’ll see, I’m kind of an open book on my blog.

To get you started, I’ve compiled some popular posts over on the Start Here page. And read more about this site here.

Enjoy!