I am an ardent traveler and explorer – always seeking out another adventure, new places and new people to visit - a true nomad at heart. And, for as long as I can remember, I have had a pair of knitting needles in my hands. Throughout my career I have worked passionately to weave these two interests into a successful career. 

In 1980, as a young 20 year old, I moved to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to teach 3rd grade in the American school. That next summer, with free time and most of my savings in hand, I set off to backpack through Peru. When I reached Lima I met a group of women who made their living knitting – and they invited me to spend the afternoon with them. An afternoon stretched into four days of working along side them – and learning about their lives and how they worked. This chance meeting would change my life and launch my career.

Before continuing on with my travels, I sketched the design for my first sweater on a piece of scrap paper and asked the women if they could make it. They laughed shyly but agreed.  Astonishingly the sweater was finished with a few tweaks close to perfection when I returned a month later from a backpacking trip to Argentina. By the end of that summer, I knew I wanted to design my own sweaters for the U.S market and produce them working with the amazing knitters I had befriended in Peru.

It was a grand, sweeping idea – opening up a business in a foreign country – and there were many things to learn before I could make it a reality.  So, the next stop was Uruguay where I earned an apprenticeship with knitwear designer Emma Camusso – and from whom I would learn all the design elements needed to take a rough idea and turn it into a finished product. I also befriended Gabor Stein in South Jersey - he gave me the real facts about working in the fashion business saying, “It will be tough and it is extremely competitive but if you surround yourself with a good team of people and have different designs that no one else is doing, you’ll make it.” 

I began small by designing children's sweaters that I would bring back and sell in New England. Little by little representatives were hired and trade shows attended. In those first years the business was housed in a small building in a remote location about an hour outside of Lima. There were just six knitters and a handful of  workers doing administrative tasks. We did everything. The knitters all worked from home while also caring for their families. The only “asset” the business had was a second-hand white truck that was busy all day long delivering yarn and supplies to the knitters and picking up finished sweaters to bring back to the company building. 

Fast forward thirty years - and many growing pains and very happy memories - later. The six knitters (who are still with me today) grew to over 200 knitters and a team of great yarn manufacturers. My women's and children's knitwear were sold in over 1200 speciality stores as well as a many well known catalogs and private label clients in the United States, Germany, Finland and Sweden.

In 2005 I had the honor of being asked by USAID to help them determine the conditions of knitwear activity in the Ecuadorian provinces of Carachi and Imbabura, and to evaluate the viability of upgrading the quantity and quality of their product production.

Ama Nomad is my newest business venture.  A smile comes to my face when I think about surrounding myself in a world of continual creation. My one size fits all garments and accessories have made the manufacturing life more streamline. Our one-of-a-kind “up-cycled” earrings are fun and fresh and embrace the beautiful colors and fabric designs I have found in Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia.

I work from my studio on Martha’s Vineyard in the Summer and Fall and bring my work on the road with me as I travel in the winter months while working with the artisans. I have a wonderful team I work with - for whom I am forever grateful. I continue to work with wholesale and private label clients.

I share my life with my amazing son whose love is tuna fishing off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and my gregarious, patient, partner of over 30 years who continues to support me in my nomadic life.