Meet our 2023 Mermaid Mentors

Shenette Swann

Shenette Swann is the creative owner behind the music, mediation, and motivation coaching service called Spark Wonder and New Narratives. Strongly believing in the power of the story and the passion behind words, seasoned songwriter and entertainer, Swann has found the secret to contentment and purpose and teaches clients that the answer is completely within their own self narrative. With 25 years years of journaling experience, Swann teaches the art of Journ(healing) and the manifestation power of vision writing. Her deeply intuitive and interactive coaching style catapults the client into the place Swann calls the Spark Zone – a place where the coach is not the coach at all; instead, the client owns the ability to coach and empower themselves through transformative inner connective writing. With music and performance as her first platform, Swann’s music is laced with motivational messages of empowerment and wisdom. The proud mother of 2 sons and a personal story of overcoming, Shenette Swann embodies the strength of all women.

LinDsay Carroll

Lindsay Carroll, b 1990, is an award-winning oil and pastel artist living and working in the High Country of North Carolina. She received her formal training at a young age from the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities where she studied from 2007-2009. Her work—a blend of classical and contemporary realism— focuses primarily on the figure and the portrait. Carroll uses soft edges and delicate blending to render her subjects. She prefers to paint figures lit with natural window light or dappled sunlight. Her paintings have been described as “smooth,” “dramatic,” and “detailed.” Each of Carroll's paintings is carefully planned and executed with precision to portray the mesmerizing dance between light and form.

Teresa Lee

Teresa Lee is a theatre director, actor, educator, and movement specialist. She has a long and active career in the High Country theatre community. As a founding Artistic Collaborator with In/Visible Theatre, she has directed, acted, and choreographed stage fights and was last seen in their production of The Christians in 2017. Teresa also performed her one woman show, Night Frogs, at Boone’s premiere solo performance festival, BOLO in 2017 and for the National Women’s Theatre Festival in Raleigh, NC in 2018. She has directed professionally in the High Country area at Blowing Rock Stage Company, Ensemble Stage, Horn in the West and Blue Ridge Community Theatre. Teresa recently retired as Professor of Theatre Performance in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Appalachian State University, where she taught acting, stage movement, theatre education, creative expression, improvisation, and Alexander Technique and was the Director of the Appalachian Young People’s Theatre touring program.