In The Beginning...

J.C. Menrath grew up in upstate New York with big dreams of becoming an artist-writer-actress-marine-biologist-dolphin-trainer.  With several theatrical titles written and performed for her third grade classroom and her fantastical artwork featured across the covers of her elementary school's yearbook, Menrath's early creative career showed great promise; however, the unfortunate discovery of her aversion to dissecting frogs in middle school forced her to drop marine-biologist-dolphin-trainer from her future resume.  Still, her appetite for creative output was not diminished.

a little after that...

Her ambitious attitude continued into high school and further led her to accomplishments in writing and fine art including a Congressional Art Award, a local writing award, and gold standing at the New York State Art Olympics.  Her work was heavily - some might say overly - featured in her school's art and literary magazines and she would frequently be found haunting the art department or designing sets for the school theatrical productions well-beyond the time her teachers would have liked her to go home.  Social outings were frequently passed over in preference of regularly scheduled “reading time” and she attended senior prom decidedly-stag in a dress one might confuse for a fairy costume.  Some could say it was only natural - or completely random - for Menrath to then turn to a career in interior design.

not that long ago...

There was something appealing about the opportunity to create environments others could experience - to shape an atmosphere that could inspire daydreams and excitement - and of course there was also the age-old saying “artists never make money” and they didn’t call it the Great Recession for nothing.  Still, it wasn’t until Menrath turned to designing spaces for children and hearing the proclamations of their own lofty aspirations that she realized she had left some of her own passions behind.

Midst her years marching down the straight and narrow line of design, J.C. Menrath got married and had two baby boys.  Their boundless enthusiasm for fantasy play and bedtime stories reunited Menrath with her youthful ambitions.  A pen and paper never far from hand, she finally got down to writing that book she had always been meaning to and a girl in a tree appeared...