The hustle. Is. Real

Indeed. LinkedIn. Monster. All of these sites are so easy to use; they have apps, resume storage, and endless possibilities. I was once cold called on one site to be the tastemaker for the president of Carnegie Hall; I thought it was fake, turned out it was real! Then he resigned.

I’m cultured. It’s my parents’ fault. I was raised on the Smithsonian, the Hirschorn, the Freer and the Sackler. I lived in Cheltenham, England for a summer. I toured Europe with a children’s chorus. I went to musical theater camp for 6 years. I sang “La bohème” with Baltimore Opera at the Lyric. I went to the Baltimore Symphony in school field trips. I learned French.

And, at 22, I studied in Paris at the Sorbonne. I traveled to Stockholm in winter, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Fez in spring. I fell in love, went to concerts, saw Bobby McFerrin live. Josh Bell and Jeremy Denk at Chatelet. Bluebeard’s Castle at the Bastille. Boulez Sonatine with Pierre Laurent Aimard and Cathérine Cantin at the opera (my then teacher). Took lessons at the artists studios at the Bastille. What was this young life?

At 25, I moved to New York. The rest, as they say, is history.