Nancy Illman considers herself a displaced New Yorker; she grew up on Long Island, lived and worked in Manhattan, then became a mother in Cincinnati, again in Detroit, and a third time in Cincinnati. A wandering Jew, Nancy is also a descendent of Mayflower passenger and Separatist leader William Brewster. She studied English and American language and literature at Harvard, and obtained a law degree from Fordham. She published her allegorical painting, “naked restraints of trade” in the Cardozo intellectual property journal. She has also published an article about the dangers of attorney mediated divorce. Nancy is an amateur violinist and performs both locally and internationally. She is certified in decorative painting, Usui Reiki energy healing, plant-based nutrition, aromatherapy, and soul empowered hypnosis. The mother of three grown children, Nancy lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with her husband, Paul Newman, rescue dog, Sugar Pie, and rescue cat, Hercules.