Hi! I’m Lea. Just a little info on me:
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, I was a desert rat until after my freshman year in high school, when my family moved up to Oregon. We settled in a small town called Estacada, up in the hills, about 30 miles west of Portland.
It was there that a friend of mine, D.M., badgered me into trying out for the high school play. I was weak-kneed nervous, but I finally did, just to get him to shut up. I got a supporting lead (playing his wife!) The first night of the play, right before I had to enter, I was SO nervous that I had to pace back and forth so I wouldn’t throw up. When I opened the door and stepped onstage, all the nervousness vanished, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
I was in all the school plays after that, and after graduation, attended the School of Performing and Visual Arts in San Diego, California. (It’s not there anymore, but that’s not my fault. 
)
If students weren’t onstage performing, they were encouraged to learn everything from lighting and sound to props and costumes. So that’s what I did. I’ve sewed costumes for a Las Vegas act, and a wedding dress for a schoolmate. I’ve managed props, and helped build a portable stage.
Additionally, I performed as a magic assistant with an actor/magician friend of mine, named Dan. The comedy/magic act, “The Great Tostada & Maria,” was starting to take off, then life happened, and we lost touch.
After graduating Magna cum Laude with a BFA, I auditioned for, and was cast in, the San Diego Street Theatre – a CETA-funded program to bring artistic enrichment to the denizens of downtown San Diego during their lunch hour. We did some creative stuff, if I do say so myself, improvising scenes, then writing and performing them. We also incorporated video into our stage shows, which was groundbreaking at that time. Nobody had done that yet.
After the Street Theatre program ended, I lived in the Midwest for a little over a year and a half, working at a local radio station. As a DJ/Announcer, I played songs on the AM and FM channels, read the news, and tracked the weather. Tornado season was particularly challenging. Scrambling to change tapes in the FM room before the song ends, while wondering if you can announce the tornado warning in time, was not one of my favorite things.
I finally got back to California – Los Angeles this time, not San Diego. I acted with a repertory company for years. Dan and I found each other again, and did some strolling magic at a few gigs around L.A. I worked part-time at a video editing studio and part-time as an admin assistant for a real estate agent in Beverly Hills.
So now in present time, I’m back in the Midwest for awhile, managing social media on the Internet. From being a fad to creating new ways of interacting with prospective clients, social sites have become the future of doing business on a global scale. My acting/performing background has been immensely helpful in honing my communication skills.
In the Page directory, look under “Social Media” to check the “Contact” page for contact information; the “Services” page will help you decide on the best way I can help you create and/or maintain your presence on various social sites. Links to my social sites can be found in the “Social Media” section on the right side of the page.
Speaking of acting/performing, friends and I are working up a karaoke act, “The Karaoke Fiends.” Not your usual karaoke.
Other interests include: fine art, organic gardening, keeping the Earth clean, all-electric cars, and publishing books. And…I love to read.
