A few years later, Walmart came calling, and our little family moved to Bentonville, Arkansas. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime education in merchandising—learning at a global company known for excellence and scale. For more than six years, I designed and developed private-label apparel and soft home products, and had the incredible privilege of traveling the world to meet talented partners and factories. Together, we worked hard to create quality products at accessible prices, grow more sustainable practices, and shape thoughtful product and brand strategies. It was a big, meaningful season of life, and I’m deeply grateful for all I learned there.

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In 2016, our son was born with an unbalanced translocation—a duplication in one chromosome and a deletion in another—and I stepped away from corporate life to focus on our family. Those early years were filled with doctor’s visits, physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy appointments, and they reshaped our priorities in the most humbling and beautiful ways. Then, during the pandemic, I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in over a decade. Watercolor was a completely new medium for me, and it became the perfect creative refuge in a tender season—equal parts soft, unpredictable, and quietly healing. I fell in love with the way it blends gentleness and structure, and before long, WestOak Watercolor began to take root.