For as long as Marlaina can remember, her knee-jerk impulse has been to create through every medium that called her: writing, art, music, dance, photography, moving images, cooking, and fragrance. Today, her everyday life as a professional writer, painter, and composer often intersects with what 12th-century abbess Hildegard Von Bingen called viriditas, "the greening power" or divine, creative life force of nature. Coming from a long line of artistic souls, Marlaina was raised by visionary parents who deeply supported

her creative and spiritual life from a very early age and exposed her to

 many religious paths, philosophies, and holistic modalities.

It is an ethos she continues to embody in every area of her life.

 

Since 2016, Marlaina has been a regular national content
writer and journalist for Natural Awakenings magazine,
the leading evidence-based health and green living magazine in the States
(2.5 million monthly readership via hard copy regional editions and online).
Marlaina has several articles per month in the publication
and has had the privilege of interviewing
some of the most significant sources in the industry
including Mayo Clinic,
Dr. David Perlmutter, Dr. Gladys McGarey, celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito,
neuroscientist and global Transcendental Meditation leader Tony Nader,
yoga legend Rodney Yee, and inspiring New York Times bestselling authors
Thomas Moore and Sarah Ban Breathnach.
Due to editorial protocol, when there are more than 2 articles
in a monthly issue, she uses the pseudonyms Maya Whitman and Zak Logan. 
In addition to holding certifications in
clinical and energetic applications of therapeutic-grade essential oils,
therapeutic massage, energy modalities, and hospice volunteer work,
Marlaina's passionate independent study of the human nervous system
and the neuro-energetic effects of trauma greatly informs her work.

She is a multi-genre author of 15 books 
including Naked Soul (Llewellyn Worldwide, 1998),
the reference book Multidimensional Aromatherapy, Spiritual Famine in the Age of Plenty,
Goddess Consciousness, and Broken Jar, a novel. 
As a composer, under the name WillowWynd,
Marlaina has released 21 albums in the genres of
contemporary classical piano, world, and instrumental.
Her diverse work has been commissioned for
award-winning short films directed by Tara Gadomski,
small business promos, gallery art installations, 
meditation videos, and self-help courses.  
 As a third-generation painter, she dedicates her brush to fine figurative art
and visionary art that celebrates who we are in the Big Picture.

Her multi-sensory one-woman solo art exhibits with her visionary paintings,

original music, inspired poetry, botanical fragrances, and joyful meditations

at wellness centers, contemplative spaces, and yoga studios

 offer healing immersion and mindfulness for the community.

After living near Washinton D.C. and the Philadelphia suburbs,
Marlaina returned to her rural roots in 2008 with no regrets.
In 2016, after 25 years of debilitating chronic illness
with only one brief and partial remission,
she experienced a life-altering, lasting physical and emotional healing

based on mind-body connections and resonance.
She chooses a path of slower living and is no longer active on

 social media except for work necessity, preferring life off the virtual wheel.
For her, choosing the real world and deep presence to cultivate the tangible
also means happily opting out of smartphone addiction. 

From her corner of the world near Honesdale, Pennsylvania, 
her everyday joy is her medicinal plant pantry of almost 100 herbs

and mornings at the easel.

She can be found walking and hiking year-round 

with her beloved husband,  Jos. C. Donato,  

an avid outdoorsman and an author of historical fiction.
Her unexpected blessing has been spending time
in the presence of horses and experiencing their often astonishing

intuitive and emotional capacity.​

Marlaina's lifelong inspiration and mentor was her mother Winifred ,
a multitalented singer-songwriter, poet, mystic, and Renaissance woman
who independently studied nutrition and managed health food stores
in New York City in the 1950s. From this early foundation,
Marlaina continues to live by the premise
that the fusion of healing, art, and spirit is an immutable force.