About

I’m a mother, a sister, a daughter and a partner, but what I’m best at is being a friend.

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My 2 daughters, Italia and Grace, are with me Monday through Friday and at their father’s house on weekends. This gives me time to enjoy my partner, Josh, and my variety of friends at home where I enjoy cooking gourmet feasts for my family and my long-time friends. Since 1998 I’ve been a cosmetologist and rent a chair in Neenah, Wisconsin where I work on hair 5 days a week.

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I have written my life story — When Being Strong Is Your Only Option: A Survivor’s Memoir — which includes neglect and child abuse from birth, getting married at 16 to an abusive man and sex trafficked as a stripper until 18. 

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This memoir also chronicles the death of my young son, Vinny, in a car accident and my sentence of “Homicide by Negligent Use of a Motor Vehicle”. I also explain during the 18-month incarceration that began in 2004 how I was the last woman in a Wisconsin prison to give birth in shackles and how we helped the law be changed so no one else would have to experience that.

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The wisdom that I have gained by living this life and the realization that I need to deal with my demons, convinced me to write this book. Hopefully my story will be a cautionary tale to others who are trying to survive this thing called “life."

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