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Hello World.

Hi! My name is Maeling Murphy and I love to immerse myself in exploring, learning, creating and sharing.

Now these interests of mine have found a myriad of ways of expressing themselves throughout my life. Here’s just a glance…

Starting a journaling practice when I was in the 5th grade that I still maintain to this day,

Living in Valencia, Spain for a summer study-abroad program to learn Spanish when I was 14,

Participating in an engineering summer program for high school girls that introduced me to the fascinating world of materials science and engineering,

Majoring in materials science and engineering and minoring in Spanish during my undergraduate studies,

Participating in a pageant and winning to represent my state at the national level while in college,

Working in various engineering internships at the academic, private and government research levels while in college,

Sharing my passion for science and engineering through becoming an after-school instructor teaching science projects to young kids and taking leadership roles in my university’s Engineering Ambassadors program, Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers and Materials Science & Engineering student chapters to plan outreach events for elementary and high school students,

Earning my B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering,

Learning photography and videography,

Living in Campinas, Brasil for a materials science & engineering summer study abroad program before beginning my journey to a Ph.D. in materials science & engineering,

Taking salsa lessons and investing in professional ballroom dancing lessons (and shoes!),

Leaving relaxers behind and embracing my natural hair in 2009,

Sharing my journey of learning how to take care of my natural hair online, leading me into an unexpected journey of entrepreneurship involving partnerships with major and indie brands, features in national publications and radio, and travel for speaking engagements throughout the United States and abroad, empowering women to embrace who they are naturally,

Marrying my amazing husband,

Studying professional voice acting with a coach and having official VO demo reels produced,

Creating through countless DIY projects spanning various mediums – sewing, woodworking, papercrafting, hand lettering, cold and hot process soapmaking and web development,

Starting a personal yoga practice,

Earning my Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering,

Giving birth to my son at home with the support of my awesome birth team (husband, midwife & doula),

Living in México (Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo) with my husband and son for a year after selling a great deal of our belongings in the States,

Learning about herbal remedies and nurturing my own herbal garden at home,

Exploring the lessons my dream space has to offer through dream work,

Loc’ing my hair after being loose natural for over 8 years,

Building a website with my husband,

… and navigating a new journey that has required me to slow down and explore within. It has been an experience that continuously raises questions but has also provided many revelations. An experience that has involved a lot of shedding of false beliefs about myself and also the planting of new seeds of truth and inner-knowing. An experience that has showed me that my worth is not defined by anything I’ve ever done but is rooted in just BEING.

One amazing lesson I’ve learned since I started blogging online over 10 years ago is that owning your voice can be empowering. For me, sharing my experiences is an act of honoring this human experience and if it can serve as a point of relation to another human out there, that’s a beautiful thing.

Cheers to this continuing journey!