Frequently Asked Questions

It’s a multimedia memoir — part book, part mixtape, part constellation of memory. Think of it as stories pixelated through sound, image, and nostalgia — a place where music and memory echo together. Imagine getting to know a new friend through her mixtape of memories, each story another piece of a constellation slowly taking shape, like sitting together in a fireside chat beneath the stars.

Echolalia is when words or sounds repeat — like echoes that return without being invited. Musical echolalia is how songs and lyrics loop in memory, shaping how we feel, remember, and even communicate.  It’s the heartbeat of this project.

It’s all three, and none at once. Searching for Stars is a living memoir told in fragments — part website, part audio archive, part retro dream. Imagine a mixtape that keeps unfolding into chapters.

For readers. For music lovers. Nostalgia chasers. For kids of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s — and for anyone who’s ever pressed rewind on a memory. It’s for seekers of light in the dark, and for those who feel music deep within their soul.

It’s for the little girl inside me who dreamed of being a writer, who thought in music video formation and remembered in lyrics long before she had words to explain it. It’s for anyone who carries loops of sound and story in their mind and is still searching for ways to make sense of them. It’s for my children — the living record of my life and the love story their father and I have built — so they will always know who I was, and how they inspired me to finally share my voice.

The pixel art style was inspired by our kids love of old-school Nintendo and Sega games, a love my husband and I were proud to pass on to them. Because memory itself often feels pixelated — fragments, pieces, little glowing squares that come together into something whole.  Vivid sensory filled memories, retro games, mixed CDs, VHS tapes and the texture of nostalgia.

I actually start with real photos (usually from my own life or family albums) and then run them through a mix of tools: ChatGPT, Canva, and PicsArt — all of which I pay for and use constantly. I’ll usually ask ChatGPT to recreate the image in a pixelated or retro game style based on the theme I’m going for. From there, I crop, layer, remove backgrounds, and remix things until it feels right. Sometimes it takes several tries and a lot of creative tweaking!

My husband and I also run a digital marketing company, so when I hit a wall, he jumps in and helps finesse the edits.

At its core, the project is about the stories, the music, and the way memory like melody loops inside us… the visual art helps bring it to life like a pixelated scrapbook.

Yes — the site weaves together audio narration, Spotify soundtracks, and pixel art. Each story has its own “soundtrack,” so you can hear the memory as you read it. You can also listen to the project in its entirety on Spotify, or hear the Searching for Stars soundtrack.

Anywhere. That’s the beauty. The project is a constellation, and you can enter from any star. Like getting to know a new friend it never happens in order — it comes in bursts, like shooting stars revealing their story one streak at a time.

Certain images throughout the site are clickable, leading you to other pieces that share similar characters, themes, memory vibes or synced timelines—like doorways, small bridges between stories that hum with the same rhythm. Click if you’d like to drift from one suggested memory to the next, but it’s never required to light your way.

That’s the dream. Searching for Stars is being built as a digital-first memoir, but its fragments are already shaping into a printed constellation. Someday, you’ll hold it in your hands like a mixtape for the soul.

Read, listen, share. Tell a friend who loves music, post your favorite piece, or just press play. Every echo helps keep the stars alive.

It was born from a lifelong love of music, memory, and storytelling — from mixtapes passed between friends, to songs that became soundtracks for entire chapters of my life. It’s both a personal archive and an invitation for others to remember alongside me.

Yes — it’s my story, but told through music, movies, and memory loops that connect to something bigger. While it’s personal, it’s also universal — because the songs that shaped me are the same songs that have carried so many others, too.