Born in San Jose, California and raised in Kalispell, Montana - the defining, constant factor in Devinne’s life was her conservative Christian upbringing and absolute deference to God’s will and the church. She was a faithful, joyful and obedient believer as a child. She loved worship and served as a children’s worship leader from ages 10 to 16.

This early indoctrination and the rise of purity culture ultimately created a tsunami of shame and guilt after she was sexually assaulted at 15 by a leader in her church. She believed, wrongfully, that she had caused the assault and blamed herself for "“causing her brother in Christ to stumble”.

By December of her senior year, she was suicidal - feeling like she had destroyed her chances of a life full of God’s promises and failed in her singular purpose as a woman - to remain pure for her future husband. The church offered little support, insisting that she was the problem and offering prayer and devotionals in place of therapy or justice.

After graduating high school a year early due to her depression, she dove deeper into the church - departing on a 6 month mission trip through Central America at 17 and attending Calvary Chapel Bible College soon after. Through these experiences she continued to feel the throws of depression, but her deep indoctrination told her that was just the Devil playing tricks with her mind, that she was weak in faith and needed to cry out to God for strength.

However, as her biblical knowledge grew and deeper questions arose, she started to study other religions and doubts about her faith entered her mind. How did Christians know they were right? How were they so sure? “Faith” seemed like the catch-all answer and it was, for her, an inadequate one.

She renounced her faith in 2013 and for the next 10 years struggled with depression and suicide. What was life without faith? Who was she without Christianity?

Everything seemed superficial without the life purpose the church had provided her. Without purpose, she wandered aimlessly through life.

Devinne turned to academia, a familiar and favorite dissociating tactic, but each time depression returned she found herself needing to drop out of her studies in order to save her life. She turned to work and threw herself in to her career wholeheartedly, but found that nothing could fill the void.

Her early assault caused her to become hyper-sexual and obsessive, seeking out dangerous and non-consensual sex or emotionally unavailable relationships in place of safety, security, and real love. She abused drugs and alcohol to numb the pain and cope with feelings of crippling insecurity, anger, and sadness.

Always a writer, she found relief in taking to her journals - filling the pages with the poems you now see on the pages of “what to do with damaged goods.” & many many more.

After years of therapy and finally hitting rock bottom, Devinne decided she needed to change and desperately sought out the answers to her problems. What was it that was keeping her bound to these cycles?

In 2023 she spoke up publicly for the first time about her experiences and the cycles of sex, shame, and suicidal ideation she had been experiencing for over 15 years. In speaking out, she brought light to the darkness and her shame dissolved, easing the once overwhelming and all-consuming burden she had been carrying for so long. It was then she realized that the answer was inside her all along - she was not broken. She need not be ashamed. She was whole and complete and worthy.

While she believes that healing is continuous and non-linear, and she does not purport to be “healed” or have any singular answer and she feels she actually knows very little about the truth of things, she hopes that in sharing her poems and story with the world, more people are encouraged to be brave and share their stories too. Releasing themselves from darkness and stepping into the light.