Demi: Why I started Encounters

Hi!  My name is Demi and I am a chemical engineer who loves to dance, compose, and write.  I decided to start this project, Encounters, out of a desire to celebrate the artistic talents of the everyday person.  

I see life as a story book and I believe that we are the characters that we read.  As the offspring of an engineer-artist duo raised in New York City, I have been fortunate in my story thus far to have Encountered such a diverse array of characters from different walks of life.  From voice over child actors to basketball players to engineers to dancers to construction workers to PhD experts.  In my story, I have come to discover that there is so much more to the characters that I have Encountered than meets the eye.  

Artistic dichotomy exists in so many of us and I wanted to celebrate that somehow.  I have met chemical engineers who break dance,  construction workers who write poetry, basketball players who paint, and accountants who film.  Often times, our talents and passions are not always at the forefront of our lives because reality takes hold - there are bills to pay, mouths to feed, and families to take care of.  Although reality may sometimes feel like a spreadsheet, I still believe that it can be infused with our dreams and passions.  Therefore, I decided to create Encounters to provide a platform for people like you and I to share the side of us that doesn't always get to be seen in Society; the side of us that is purely dictated by our dreams and passions.  

We may not have the time to produce a perfect version of our artistic work but we all do have a unique creative voice to share.  So many of the characters I have Encountered inspired my own artistic voice and that is what I will be sharing with you through this project.   

In the end, Encounters is my homage to the wonderfully mysterious and never-ending depth of the human character.