Our Story

I have lived other places, but Oak Cliff will always call me home. I was born here, and here, and now own a home here. I grew up playing soccer at Keist Park, hanging out with neighborhood friends near Henderson Elementary, and eventually, witnessed the emergence of Bishop Arts as the trendy new spot in Dallas. I love the way that the old and the new combine into the experience that is Oak Cliff.

Today, I am a coffee-loving-homeschooling-guru-single-mama-superhero of a second-generation amazing Oak Cliff kid. It is my privilege to teach her the ropes of building a woman- and minority-owned small business from the ground up in the community that so shaped me.

I'm a former educator with a love of travel (I do like to get out of the neighborhood occasionally :) and an apparent frustrated creative streak. I may have spent my life on college campuses doing the professor thing, but then the pandemic happened. As for many people, COVID-19 made me reflect and reprioritize, and I found that I enjoy personalizing products and coming up with new designs way more than I ever did grading papers. And so I Heart Oak Cliff Design became more than a few random jottings of ideas on post-it notes, and we officially launched I Heart Oak Cliff Design at the Elmwood Fall Festival in November 2022.

Through this company we hope that we can bring a little joy to other people who love this neighborhood like we do with our Oak-Cliff themed gifts and custom products. But I have always conceived of I Heart Oak Cliff as being more than just a business, just like Oak Cliff - to many of us - is more than just a neighborhood. Therefore, we promise to to give back to the community and also to do our best to raise awareness for issues important to Oak Cliff when we can.