You see, since I was a kid, ‘Old Man Winter’ and I never got along too well. Sure I liked making snow angels and igloo type forts, and of course snow ‘people.’ I used to figure skate too but my toes always froze and when they thawed out, I really didn’t like the fact that they would burn.

One of my favorite times in life was when I learned how to surf. I was vacationing on the island of Oahu, Hawaii in Honolulu. It sure is beautiful there and humid like Toronto. Anyway, I took a lesson with an old time professional surfer: I think his name was Big Daddy. He gave me this long surfboard to carry. It was probably at least ten feet long. If felt like twenty-five. Almost twice my size and really, really heavy. I couldn’t wait to put it into the water. My arms were aching, my muscles twitching but once I got into the water, I was in heaven. My lesson was only supposed to last about an hour but I was in the water for about three. Then I had to get back to shore – I had swallowed so much salt water, it made my stomach feel real sore. It was the best feeling being able to get up on that surfboard, stay up and ride a wave for awhile. Now mind you, I am not talking ten foot high waves. They were probably only about two feet high. Good enough for a beginner.

Creating Dasha Flash™ was a process. I was taking some writing classes at UCLA and studying acting on scholarship when I met Bonnie Spence, a film producer who was shooting a Public Service Announcement for a youth organization called Break the Cycle and later, School on Wheels. She brought me on as an Associate Producer. That seemed to really ignite the urge to start writing again. I’ve been writing poetry since I was six years old. I began creating these whimsical rhythmic childlike poems. A friend of mine bought me a little black book during this surge of inspiration apparently the type Ernest Hemingway used to write on and one book eventually became five. I thought to myself, “What do I do with them all?”

I wanted to share these poems with kids but I wanted to put an animated character to it. And this was when Dasha Flash™ was born. I asked Violetka Petrovska, an architecture and art history graduate to draw the vision of Dasha Flash™ character – and voila it was starting to come together and the whole Flash family was then born. I decided to circulate the poems in the Montessori School system as a way to engage kids in the power of the written word combined with creative expression, specifically photography. Dasha Flash™ is passionate for photography. I was first given the wonderful opportunity to work with a Montessori school in Bolton, Ontario. And working with one Montessori school eventually became eight in both the United States and Canada!

I love Dasha Flash™! Yes, she certainly loves taking pictures and she’s got a good heart. And that’s why I created Dasha Flash’n’Friends™. Because I think if you have a good heart, you’ll always have good friends, and want to do good things too!