Artistic Biography
Born: July 10th,
1959
Northampton, Pa.
Nancy largely credits her
lifelong passion and talent for the arts to her mother, Pat, a music teacher
and professional singer.
She began her musical
training in classical piano at the age of 7 under the late Beatrice Gougher, a
Julliard School of Music graduate.
She competed annually as a gold cup performer in the National Federation
of American Music Clubs until age 15.
At the age of 16 her
interests turned to the stage when she landed her first major dramatic role as Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (the
straight version of Hello Dolly). As a teen, her passion for the performing arts flourished under the instruction of talented teacher and mentor, Joan Schneider. Nancy performed the role of Fatima in The Boys From Syracuse with the Pocono Players, a theatre
troupe in the Pocono resort area of Pennsylvania. In 1987, she became a founding member of The Coventry Players (Montgomery
County, Pa.) and performed several dramatic roles with that company including Pam in Rich is Better and Jan in I’ll Be Back Before
Midnight.
In 1996 she was offered 3 roles
in the television series, Medical Detectives (now broadcast as
Forensic
Files) on The Learning Channel
(TLC) including the pilot episode, Magic Bullet.
Following the completion of
graduate studies in 1997 she began writing short stories and published her
first non-fiction piece in New Works
Review, an online magazine.
She went on to publish her first fiction novel, Cultivating Daughters (Authorhouse Publications, Bloomington,
Indiana) in 2000.
She began the writing of her
second novel when her friend, George Calderone invited her to begin singing
duets with him in 2003. Through
his membership with a professional vocal harmony group, George would eventually
lead her to the musical group DESIRE,
first as a fan, then as a guest performer. She was officially invited to join the group in 2011
following a dynamic performance with the group at Brookside Country Club in PA. Over the next several years she and the
group performed at such venues as Caesar’s
Palace, Atlantic City, Lead East and were hand-picked by Jay Leno as his opening act in 2012 at
the Sands Casino and Event Center, Bethlehem,
Pa. She currently sings with her husband Jaime DeJesus and Lou Benito in the group DeJESUS INSPIRES. They released their first CD, "Echoes of Harlem" in Nov, 2018.
Personal
Nancy graduated from
Wallenpaupack Area High School, PA.
She earned both a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a
Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Kutztown University in
PA. Besides her personally
rewarding and successful career of more than 40 years in human services, she has tremendously enjoyed helping people with
special needs in the field of behavioral health and developmental disabilities. She has volunteered as a Big Sister for
9 years and as a member of the Lehigh Valley Red Cross.
Nancy enjoys gardening, gourmet cooking and caring for Windsor, her Maltese. She has many loving memories of her two Bichon Frise dogs, Maxwell and
Brigitte, who have passed on. She’s also the proud
stepmom of Shannon and 3 grandchildren.
She credits her joy and
success in life to her abiding faith in God, her husband Jaime, her Mom & Dad, her family and all those who love
and support her.
