“Building better relationships”

I was born in Brooklyn New York one year after my parents, two immigrants from the Soviet Union, courageously left their home country to find more freedom and prosperity in the United States.  I was raised by a community of strong people who took risks and thrived including my grandparents who where survivors of the Nazi concentration camps.  My parents, though from the same country, came from very different backgrounds, which added richness to our family dynamic and taught me about the complexities of identity.  Survival, vitality and the importance of recognizing opportunity where the main themes in my family’s story. 

In school I dedicated my time to dance and theater. Characters, their stories and conflicts were endlessly fascinating to absorb and interpret.  The innate knowledge of the body, its ability to convey and stir emotion makes dance a necessary practice for me to this day. I learned quickly that it is not just the text, but it is also the subtext and the performance of both through words and movement that tell the whole story of a human being’s life.

In my early 20s I landed a job working for an upscale matchmaker in New York City.  This job, though heavy on the administrative and marketing duties, turned me into an amateur psychologist studying the hearts and minds of a subset of single people looking for love.  I found myself fascinated with the stories of these people who seemingly had everything together but could not find the right kind of relationships.  So I planned some parties, I wrote some personal ads and traveled all over the country helping clients find love. 

I decided to change my amateur status and earned a Master’s in Psychology from the New School University and an MPH in Sexuality and Health from Columbia University.  While completing my studies I did research on body image and sexuality, worked as a social skills coach for a cognitive psychologist and a dancing anthropologist on a project for the National Institute of Health. 

During this time I also examined my own heart and relationships.  I questioned my assumptions about love and partnerships.  I travelled the world and observed how relationship norms and gender dynamics played out in other cultures.  I took risks with my heart and I sought the guidance of world renowned relationship experts.  Like everyone I won some and I lost some but maintain to this day that intimate relationships are a wonderful way to learn about the human experience.  

Eventually I found myself wanting to help people have more satisfying relationships with their partners (present or potential), a dynamic and forgiving relationship with their bodies and the biggest companion through life, themselves. 

Today I find myself working with individuals, couples and groups on intimacy, sexuality, self-presentation, wellbeing and self-actualization.  For more information on what I do click HERE.