Founder Story

Finding the Light Within

Bink Bonkers began with a simple belief: that even in our darkest moments, the light within us is never truly lost.

Growing up between New York City and the Hamptons, I was always making things. Photography. Sculpture. Mixed media. Stories. I was fascinated by the invisible, by emotion, symbolism, and the quiet ways art can express what words cannot.

As a child, I also grew up with dyslexia. I learned early that not every mind experiences the world in the same way. While reading and traditional learning didn't always come easily, creativity became its own language. It taught me to think visually, to trust imagination, and to see the world through a different lens. That experience instilled a lifelong passion for creating stories that help every child feel capable, included, and understood, especially those who learn differently.

At eighteen, I created my first self directed graphic novel, Release, a deeply personal exploration of identity, emotion, and the world I knew growing up along the beaches of the East Coast. That project became the foundation for my acceptance to the Rhode Island School of Design and the California Institute of the Arts, and for a moment, my path seemed certain.

Then my father suffered a life altering stroke.

Everything changed.

Life led me in another direction.

For years, I built a career in fashion, creative direction, branding, and visual storytelling. My journey took me from Intermix, where I managed luxury retail in the Hamptons, to the Albright Fashion Library, where I immersed myself in fashion history, archival styling, and the craftsmanship behind timeless design.

From Intermix to the Albright Fashion Library, from editorial styling to immersive brand experiences, I discovered that beautiful design has the power to make people feel something. Yet I couldn't escape the feeling that beauty alone wasn't enough. I wanted to create stories that could help people feel seen.

That search eventually led me toward a deeper exploration of creativity, healing, and human connection. Along the way, I found a profound connection to the teachings of Kabbalah. Its invitation to respond with compassion rather than reaction, to become aware of our emotions instead of being controlled by them, and to recognize the light that exists within every person gave language to what my heart had been searching for all along.

Those ideas stopped being philosophy.

They became a way of living.

In the years that followed, my own artwork became an exploration of healing, transformation, and the journey back to the light within. Through bodies of work including The Lady of the Light and Faded Into the Light, I explored the idea that even in our most difficult seasons, light is never absent. Sometimes it simply needs to be found again.

During that season of searching, I encountered the work of artist Olivia Steele.

One piece, in particular, stopped me in my tracks.

“You have to go through it to get to it.”

Those words became far more than a work of art. They became a quiet reminder that healing isn't about avoiding darkness—it's about having the courage to move through it.

That message stayed with me.

It shaped the way I began to see struggle, resilience, and ultimately the purpose behind Bink Bonkers. Every challenge I had faced, every unexpected turn, every season of loss and uncertainty had been leading me toward something greater.

Sometimes the path through the darkness is the very thing that reveals the light.

“You have to go through it to get to it.”

— Olivia Steele

But the deepest transformation came through grief.

Over the years, I experienced the heartbreaking loss of four friends to suicide while also navigating seasons of my own emotional darkness. Those experiences forever changed my understanding of why stories matter.

Not simply to entertain.

But to help people feel seen.

To remind us that hope can coexist with heartbreak.

That vulnerability is not weakness.

That every emotion deserves compassion.

Bink Bonkers grew from that belief.

As I looked at the world around me, I saw children spending more time connected to screens than to themselves, to nature, or to one another. I wanted to create something that invited families back into conversation. Back into imagination. Back into the outdoors. Back into wonder.

A world where emotions become characters.

Where colors help us name our feelings.

Where curiosity becomes courage.

Where imagination opens conversations.

Where every family is gently reminded that the light within us is never truly lost.

Every character, every story, every color, and every collectible was created with one intention: to help children of every kind, especially those who see, feel, and learn differently, discover that every emotion has meaning, every feeling deserves compassion, and even the darkest moments can lead us back to the light.

My hope has always been to create stories that help children and the people who love them move through life with greater compassion, curiosity, and hope.

To inspire families to put down their screens, step outside, reconnect with nature, embrace one another, and rediscover the extraordinary magic found in the real world.

To remind us that no matter where life leads, the light within us is always worth finding again.