12 Meaningful Moments of 2025

It's been an eventful year, full of growth for me in various facets. I tried to focus a bit less on performing to make room to create opportunities for others to explore the arts and entrepreneurship. But I still got my fill of stage time, as you'll see.

I met challenges with resilience, and tried to keep things in perspective. Overall, I feel proud of what was accomplished this year. I was often reminded of my 'why'—to foster creativity, confidence, and connection in everything I do.

I lived by a few key principles:

• Insight comes from action, not thought. Marie Forleo teaches creatives to get out there and just do the things you want to be an expert at. You can't study or plan your way to excellence—experience will get you further than analysis.

  
  

• Moving forward means making decisions. Staying stuck in decision paralysis is often worse than making the 'wrong' decision. We have to move in some direction in order to find out if it's the right one. This goes hand-in-hand with the previous principle. Do; try; iterate...and learn along the way.

  
  

• You can't strong-arm your path. I'm big on self-starting—the squeaky wheel gets the grease; you can't open a door if you don't knock...et cetera, et cetera. But we don't have control over every circumstance that affects our trajectory. We can just put in the work, and then be ready for opportunities whenever they present themselves. Work hard; stay open. 

Here are 12 times I felt connected to my purpose in 2025:

1. Launching Creative Juiceworks

   
   

   It's important to me to separate my personal performance work with the community outreach and educational projects I engage in. At the end of last year, I spent time deciding on a name that resonated with my values, and three pillars to focus on helping others with: performance skills; everyday confidence; and arts appreciation. I'm pleased to have checked all three boxes through various offerings over the year like workshops, a devised production, and one-to-one coaching.

2. Chaos in the rehearsal room

   
   

   Putting together a full-scale musical production in basically 2.5 weeks is...insane. But we do it every year at the Capitol Theatre, as was the case for The Addams Family in February. (Well do it again very soon—get your tickets for Shrek while you can!)

   
   

   One afternoon toward the end of the Addams rehearsal process, director Marsall Button gave the cast free-reign to make wacky and new creative choices for one run-through, while still honouring the words and notes we've been studying. It was a really cool chance for cast bonding, and to make the material feel fresh again. Great memories were made.

3. Facilitating fun through improv

   
   

   While I wasn't able to offer 'The Laugh Lab' as consistently as I hoped over the year, I'm happy to have hosted a handful of hilarious sessions. One of the best parts of offering these workshops is creating a safe space for people of all backgrounds to connect and let out their creative and kooky sides.

   
   

4. Saint John gets confident

   
   

   This year, I developed a great professional relationship with Chroma NB, who run the Rainbow Entrepreneurship program. I was brought on to give a workshop and individual consultations for queer entrepreneurs. I love being part of anyone's journey to a more confident self by sharing self-representation strategies. Learn more about 1:1 sessions below.

5. Un petit tête-à-tête

   
   

   As part of my involvement with Chroma NB, I have been facilitating individual consultations on public speaking and self-promotion. These have been an opportunity for me to grow too, as I gain more experience in 1:1 coaching.

   
   

   These sessions are free to any LGBTQ+ creative/entrepreneur in New Brunswick, and there are still spots left (they can be conducted in person or virtually). Contact Chroma by March to take advantage!

   
   

6. Devised Duality

   
   

   One of my mandates with Creative Juiceworks is to create opportunities for new or hobbyist performers to develop their craft. In the Spring, I worked with 9 community performers to create and present an eclectic cabaret based on the concept of Duality. It was overall a successful and meaningful endeavour, and we all learned a lot in the process.

7. Broadway babies

   
   

   I generally enjoy teaching the youngsters throughout the school year, but last summer, I had the opportunity to teach a couple summer camps. One in particular lit me up inside—that was musical theatre camp, naturally. It brought me so much joy to see the youth build friendships with each other and geek out over musicals with me.

8. Summer celebrations

   
   

I was honoured to be asked by River of Pride to perform at the opening ceremony for Moncton Pride Week this year. I got to perform my own singles for this unified group of stakeholders. I was pleased to see our local MP Ginette Petitpas-Taylor in attendance! Immediately after performing, I ran back to the theatre to run students through a dress rehearsal and parent showcase. It was a fulfilling day!

9. The life of a showgirl

   
   

   After opening Pride Week, I also got to help close it out, performing two numbers in drag on the main stage concert. It was a great chance to hang out with other drag artists, including the stunning Gala Varo, from Drag Race Mexico and RuPaul's Drag Race: Global All Stars. Check out my performance of 'Lady is a Vamp' by the Spice Girls below!

10. La musique du Nouveau-brunswick

    
    

    When I was asked by Music NB to host the MNB awards, I was immediately up for the challenge! I was honest with the organizers that I was not fluent in French but I spent a lot of time and energy preparing for this event and creating a bilingual script for myself. Not only did I feel good about pushing myself, but I had a lot of fun and got to meet some really cool musicians and delegates. Support local artists!

    
    

11. Stage sisters

When I decided to bring my Christmas cabaret Jingle Belle to Halifax, I knew it would be a great opportunity to share the stage with one of my original theatre friends, Cat McCluskey (who I met at theatre camp ions ago!) I had her play my character Ruby’s sister Rosie. The whole day, Cat was my right hand gal, and we had so much fun on stage together!

12. Life is a buffet

Continuing my relationship with Anglophone East School District's IDEA Centre, I had the privilege of speaking at their annual symposium in mid-December.

My message was called 'Life is a Buffet', drawing on my tendancy to dabble in many 'things', rather than just sticking to one interest. Full disclosure: I was kind of nervous, as the revered and inspirational Mark Black was speaking right after me (yes, even confidence experts get nervous sometimes!) But I didn't let that stop me, and it was a great chance to offer wisdom to youth from Moncton, Dieppe, and Saint John.

As you may have gathered, I pushed myself a lot in 2025 and while not everything went exactly as I imagined, there were more good surprises and learning opportunities than flat-out disappointments.

In 2026, I plan to build upon these experiences and lessons. It's not an easy path 'doing your own thing' in your 30s when most of your peers are raising families and working 9-to-5s. But I wouldn't choose any other path. Thanks for following and supporting my journey!