When I was Dance Counselor at Onaway in the late ‘90s, I would’ve told you that I was going to dance professionally. Dancing was how I wanted to spend every moment of my day and was what I believed to be my true purpose. As I directed and nurtured the dance program, I found new talents and skills within myself as a teacher, choreographer, and producer that not only reinforced my conviction to pursue a career in the arts but opened my eyes to new paths that I did not necessarily foresee for myself before my time at Onaway. Despite that conviction, my path was not as straight and narrow as I would’ve imagined and that is where Onaway’s most important lessons became integral to my journey. Onaway teaches young women to be independent and strong, dedicated and passionate. After several detours, finding myself in the wrong time or the wrong place and remapping my journey, I was back in Boston where serendipitously (a word I first saw in a poem beautifully written on an aides’ bathroom stall) a found-family of artists would believe in my talents and create a safe space where I could take chances and risks to push myself as far as I was willing to go. And I danced! Performing internationally, teaching students of all ages and levels, and founding a dance company, I was actualizing my dreams while finding purpose in my true purpose. Onaway, through its values and by the examples set by the amazingly strong women who have stood in its circle, taught me to lead, and I worked tirelessly to mold and evolve each program to better serve its community and maximize its expectations. And yet, my true purpose evolved. The more dancers I worked with, the more I wanted to learn about the human body to help them improve their daily lives and lengthen their careers. That new conviction led me to graduate school for a clinical doctorate in physical therapy almost 15 years after completing undergrad. With my very specific experience of being an artist and a clinician, I’ve advocated to improve health and wellness for performing artists by creating better access to resources, more specific rehabilitation, and better education about injury prevention and wellness throughout the performing arts community. Weekdays you’ll find me “choreographing” rehab exercises in an outpatient clinic, and weekends you’ll find me backstage treating actors and dancers in local Boston theaters. And you’ll still find me teaching a couple dance classes each week, because after all, it is my true purpose.