Naomi Migliacci

Transformations with art therapy and creative writing to slow down and de-stress. Join the Renaissance Life in the Sandpiper Studio.

After graduating from Gordon College with a degree in English, I started my career teaching English in China, then in Japan. I continued to be interested in languages, so I earned the MA in TESOL at Azusa Pacific University and studied at the University of Pennsylvania for a PhD in Linguistics in Education, finishing all but the dissertation. I continued teaching and training educators in countries around the world and across the US on best practices for developing programs and curricula for students (high school+) with academic differences. My passion has always been to help people read since if one can read, one can read the Bible, and that’s a life-changing book!

While the world was shut tight as an oyster in 2020, I went back to school online and received the MFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing to enhance the travel writing I was publishing in newspapers and magazines, and now on my Substack, and to offer creative writing workshops. I couldn’t travel or do consulting work in education at this time, but I did some odd jobs that took a lot of time and didn’t pay the bills. Eventually, I was forced into early retirement in 2024. I downsized, sold my home, and became an official Escapee—a nomad—and an official resident of Florida.

I’m back in school at Liberty University online as a PhD candidate in English. The plan is/was to teach remotely, or to teach for a professor on sabbatical anywhere in the world, but for now I’m spending time with family in New England and closing out my old life where I am finishing up teaching a Bible study and taking care of my very old pets while I study and pray about my next adventure.

I come from an artistic family where everyone plays at least one musical instrument and/or sings, writes creatively, and does some form of visual art (mostly painting) and excels at creative crafts and DIY projects. I had never painted but I started watercolor a few months ago and I love it. I find it very therapeutic and calming. I’m thinking of getting a van or trailer to create a studio, or even renting studio space somewhere, to offer writing workshops and art therapy sessions. I don’t have it worked out yet, but God knows.