Allison (Alex) Westpfahl is an elder millennial who joined the United States Marine Corps out of high school during the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During her service she excelled at hands on maintenance work, sharpshooting, and physical fitness, but often struggled with the strict status quo. Upon leaving the service she was introduced to the field of Therapeutic Recreation at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she quickly came to value the role of meaningful recreational experiences for everyone. For the next 10 years Alex worked in various in and out patient psychiatric facilities, helping active duty and veteran service members recover from their traumas. During this time, she decided to expand her understanding of the power of recreation and earned her Master’s degree in Parks and Recreation, Tourism, and Sports Management from North Carolina State University. She is currently continuing to serve the service members in her community as an integral support resource for distance learning students at Coastal Carolina Community College. As an elder millennial, Alex recalls a time before the internet and spent much of her childhood interested in various recreational pursuits, chief among them, the creation of art. She has dabbled in various media and has even taken a few classes. It wasn’t until the Pandemic in 2020 that she was really able to fully embrace her artistic talents. While everyone was at home, she began to make, and eventually made so much that she was running out of places to put things. The thought occurred that someone else might also like these things and Chaotically Crafting was born. The feeling of selling that first piece of art was joyful beyond words. Chaotically Crafting has continued to be a space for Alex to experiment with making art and sharing it with the rest of the community. As a result of her military service, Alex has been a resident of Onslow County for 20 years. She previously served on the Onslow County Parks and Recreation Citizen’s Advisory Board as Secretary and is now grateful to be able to join Onslow Originals Board of Directors. She is deeply invested in making Onslow County a place for everyone by encouraging connection through community. She believes that the creation of art is important for communicating beyond language and hopes to help others feel the joy of being able to say “I am an artist”.