"A beautiful thing about forests is that even after a wildfire, despite being stripped bare by the flames, they continue to grow, bloom, and flourish—and so do we."

After a 2 and a half year abusive relationship, college was a really dark time for me. However, something began to bloom my senior year as I decided to ask if anyone would share their stories of relationship abuse for my senior thesis project. It was a year before the Me Too movement, and there was skepticism from people in my life, saying that no one would want to share something so personal, and also worrying that I was putting myself in danger. But soon I would hold in my hands my self-published book, which included my own story— Flowers from Wildfires: Twenty-Two True Stories of Abusive Relationships.

Every page of this book was designed with care: stories laid out on the page in a poetic way, emotional illustrations, and an introduction, ending, and section dividers written by me.

I believe our storytelling can be incredibly cathartic and healing to ourselves and others. I believe we can inspire, and that by sharing our art, our secrets, our words, the truth of our mental health... maybe it can change the world.