WORK

Almost 3 years ago I decided to go into business for myself.  I wanted more freedom in my schedule.  I wanted to connect Charlottesville people to Charlottesville resources.  I wanted to work on a deeper level with women and men and teens on improving their health.  People talk about BMS (body, mind, spirit) and I hear you, but in my experience it comes down to WORK that needs to be done regarding BMS (body, money, space).  I want to WORK with people who want to WORK.

EDUCATION

My background is in writing, performance, theater, acting, teaching, losing 60 pounds and keeping it off for over 5 years, surviving tragedy with grace and humor, marriage, adoption, parenting, sick parents, home ownership, women’s friendships, southern landscapes, and children of all ages.  I got a wonderful undergraduate liberal arts education/theater degree from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC.  In 2002, I finished my MFA in Playwriting at the University of Virginia.  By the time I finished there, I had written lots of plays…and fallen in love, so I got married at the UVA chapel and we happily settled here.  In 2006 we adopted a wonderful boy who is now off at college.  I never thought I would be an empty-nester before I was 40, but life is interesting.

I worked in the corporate weight loss industry for almost three years.  Turns out…I’m good at it!  I excelled and meanwhile acquired incredible leadership, management and facilitation skills and millions of anecdotes about weight loss and women and the human condition.  I’ve been coaching privately since November of 2009.  I’m currently completing course work to become a certified nutrition and wellness consultant.

TEACHING

As much as I’ve been called to write and act, I have also been called to teach.  I spent seven summers teaching English and theater at Woodberry Forest School.  I spent 2 years as an adjunct professor of theater at Longwood University while I was finishing my grad degree.  For three years I assisted in a kindergarten class here in Charlottesville and during that period, I got certified to teach elementary school (K-6) at Lynchburg College.  I have been teaching and will continue to teach classes for girls and young women that I’d always wished I’d been offered — I would have taken them.  Classes in body image, eating mindfully, respecting your body, and basically all the skills to be unflappable.  I coach teens individually — motivating them…encouraging them…mentoring them.  It’s an honor and frankly, I’ve never felt more needed.

OTHER INTERESTS

You might like to know that I have a one-woman show that I’ve written and that I perform.  Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales opened in March 2011 in Salisbury, NC, and have since performed it in Virginia, Washington, DC, New York City and most recently just finished a one-month run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.  I have a personal blog called Deedee’s Living Will…check it out.

There you go…that’s me on a website!