Mia’s adventures in Mexico started in a remote Indian village on the coast of Michoacan, where she traveled to live amongst the Nahua Indians. Her home was a thatched hut with no indoor plumbing and few amenities, located in one of the most beautiful coastal regions in the world. From there, Mia traveled to Mexico City for a month, and then on to San Miguel Allende and Ajijic...from there, Mia will go where her passion takes her!
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About Mia's Life...as a Dancer, Artist, Writer, Author and Adventuress
Mia Pratt’s father was a World War II veteran who survived 18 months in a German prison camp before returning home as a man emotionally and physically crippled by his experience, relegated to a lifelong struggle with alcoholism. Her mother was a kind, black-haired beauty from a small town in South Carolina who was unwilling to abandon her disabled, war-hero husband for the sake of preserving her own happiness and that of her four children. Mia’s childhood exposed her to the bitter reality of poverty, alcoholism and violence, but it also led her to explore her creativity from an early age.
As a teenager Mia’s family condition improved but the ramifications of her difficult childhood left its scars. By the age of sixteen she had already embarked upon the bohemian lifestyle of an American artist, and at seventeen she ran away from her California home immediately after graduating high school. She retreated to a remote cabin in the Montana wilderness where she wrote poetry until the age of nineteen, and then she returned to Northern California and began traveling the coast to sell her artwork. At twenty she met and joined a traveling gypsy dance troupe called Rainbow Trance and began performing with them at restaurants, theaters and renaissance fairs from San Francisco to Portland.
Mia eventually became romantically involved with a musician in the troupe and the pair had a daughter together, Abrha. The family traveled to Paris to reside with a group of French musicians and writers, where Mia explored the art, music and lifestyle of Paris until she became ill and was forced to return home to California. The couple eventually went their separate ways and Mia continued with her dance training. She eventually relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii to accept a professional dance position in a Middle-Eastern floor show at an international jazz nightclub called Marrakesh. She also freelanced during the day as an actress and model for film and television projects such as Magnum P.I., and designed jewelry for the Lee Sands international import company.
Mia remained in Honolulu for five years before relocating back to California to secure another floor show position at San Fran cisco’s famed Pasha’s restaurant, where she performed five nights a week while attending school during the day. After graduating, Mia sought employment outside of the arts so that her work hours would better correspond with her daughter’s school schedule. She moved to Arizona in 1991 and found work in the marketing field while she continued with her artwork on the side. By the time her daughter graduated from high school in 1995, Mia was a department manager and respected marketing writer at Microage Computers, where she honed her professional skills during the day while writing her first fiction novel at night.
In 1998 Mia left Microage to pursue her creative passions once again. She focused her entrepreneurial skills on launching Old Pratt Studios,an elite artists guild serving the high-end Scottsdale design community, and she began organizing her life philosophy and experience into a book about the power of creativity. During this time, Mia lost three family members - her older brother passed as the result of suicide in 2000, and her father and mother each passed from terminal illness within the next few years. She traveled often during these years, to refresh her perspective and to try to reclaim the happiness and creative passion that had faded as the result of her losses. She toured China with a group of university students and retreated frequently to a cabin at The Jenner Inn, her long-time spiritual sanctuary located in the town of Jenner on the rugged Northern California coast. Much of the book was conceptualized while Mia was in seclusion at this beloved seaside community.
Until 2009 Mia lived and worked in her private art studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she enjoyed a successful career as an artist, small business owner, author and columnist for an Arizona news magazine. But, as of the publication of her new book, “The Secrets of the 100 Golden Keys: Unlock the Power of Your Creativity and Set Your Life on Fire!”, Mia has since relocated to Mexico, where she travels frequently to experience different lifestyles and gain inspiration for her creative endeavors. While in Mexico Mia continues to paint, write, speak and serve as a personal “Creative Change” consultant, helping individuals discover and implement creative changes in their lives when faced with life's challenges.
