Vanessa is from Boston, her hometown but doesn’t like sports, with the exception of her first love, hockey. In the seventh grade she started acting and ended up working professionally at thirteen, in small regional theaters. Vanessa went to school at NYU and studied acting and film production, then started her bright shining career in experimental theater. As fun as that was, she couldn’t pay bills, so she moved to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, Vanessa ended up writing news and traffic reports for the radio. It was a super exciting job, but also stressful and incredibly gory (Fun fact: Vanessa can’t stand the sight of lots of blood, so you’ll never see her in a “blood witch” class).
Vanessa ended up writing for TV and film and loves to write scripts. Also, Vanessa loves Los Angeles. People make fun of it all the time (as I did before I moved here) but it’s one of the most diverse, oddball places she’s been. After 25 years, LA is still a mystery to her with parts of Los Angeles she has never been to, and many tacos she still has yet to eat.
Vanessa a psychic witch and still very much learning about the craft side of witchcraft. In fact, she didn’t even know she was psychic until she met Aly at the 2022 Annual BearBridge retreat. It’s been so great to explore her own psychic gifts, and she says, “Sometimes it feels like I’m driving a mac truck when I don’t know how to drive a car.” She is excited to watch how she and so many others at BearBridge learn and grow.
What is a White Coat?
Every person's cape or cloak is a color, which tells others what their area of expertise is with the type of witch they are (the cape/cloak) and what their expertise is (the trim). When covens from far and wide would come together, there would be one person who would represent reason, peace, and leadership among all covens. This is the White Coat. This one person could be from any of the local covens, but will speak and do what is best for all. In the spirit of these old ways, we have reinvented the position for BBA.
A White Coat is a student representative who is elected by the students to represent them. Their job is to interact with students, to discover their wants and interests, and relay that to our Headmaster and the Witch's Council. The job also goes the other direction, helping to relay thoughts and to explain changes from Aly to the other students. There is another part, a special part. Each White Coat has an extraordinary skill. Our last White, Ms. Val, was charged with protection - protection of Aly, protection of the school, and especially protection over all the students.
Our new White Coat is charged with Sight. Sight for Aly, Sight for the school, and Sight for the students. Bearbridge is a school where everyone can be safe and authentic. We do our best to hold that space sacred without fear or judgment. As White Coat it is, their honor to do all of these things for BearBridge Academy. As a white coat, they will also try to help foster community on Discord by engaging in conversation with students, being available via direct message on Discord whenever anyone has a question or concern for themselves or the school.
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