Meet Benson

The Beginning

I didn’t grow up with an evil stepmother, but with warm, wonderful parents.

But I did grow up with an emotionally challenged uncle who consistently squashed my childlike joy and wonder.

Still, I knew it was there.

My life has been a glorious journey to give myself — and others — permission to play again with wonder and whim… and to let go of “him.”

Because we all meet the hims and hers, and their ongoing slurs, hurled out of fear, disdain, and forgotten dreams.

Two Personas

I grew up with two distinct personas.

Put me in a room with strangers and I’d barely say a word.

Put me with people I trusted, and I was open, free, creative, funny, and playful.

I was a Soulburger.

Just like you.

Many Paths, One Mountain

So I kept going, trying to bring my two parts together.

I became an award-winning actor and writer, gallery artist, singer-songwriter, teacher, energy healer and spiritual life coach.

The Soulburgers are the joyful culmination of all my talents — like puzzle pieces miraculously coming together to reveal the Joy Mountain that was there all along.

The Soulburgers are the union of my two parts coming together — a party of parts no longer apart… singing two-part harmony.

Method Acting

As a child, I sang and played with wonder — full of joy, full of free-to-be-me-ness.

I remember drawing everywhere, on everything: wacky characters, abstract doodles, and made-up animals.

I guess I also relate to animals because of my first professional acting gig.

Really.

I was an off-Broadway squirrel in a musical version of Narnia before the movie came out.

I remember going down to Central Park and camping out with the squirrels until I “got” my squirrel.

I was an intense, committed squirrel.

I was Brando squirrel.

Well… the Brando in Guys and Dolls, not Apocalypse Now.

The Becoming

Between acting gigs, I delivered singing telegrams and sold my abstract art t-shirts on the streets of Soho to pay my rent.

More work came my way.

But the self-doubt still whispered.

The more I healed, the freer I became.

The freer I became, the more creative everything became.

The more I loved myself, the more others around me felt permission to do the same.

Birth of The Soulburgers

Then, while preparing for a “serious” art show, something gloriously unserious happened.

The show was 10 days away.

I still had six blank canvases, 20 x 16 inches each, waiting to be filled. I looked down at my to-do lists and there they were — my usual endless doodles, covering every page since I can remember. I thought, “No. I can’t put this silly doodle face on a canvas… can I?”

And then something cracked inside me.

Like Shmorris the Preposterasaurus joyously breaking through his shell and springing to life on Joy Mountain, I drew with complete hurray-ful abandon. He made me laugh out loud. Then I thought — it’s not just him. It’s a family. Five more shmoodle-doodle faces with silly little bodies jumped off my pizza box and gas bills onto the canvases.

I had no idea what Nancy, the gallery owner, would think.

She saw them and screamed, “I want one!”

And the Soulburgers were born.

I painted them on shirts and wore them into the world.

Friends wanted them.

Strangers stopped me in the street asking where they could get one.

People said they felt lighter wearing them.

So did I.

Who can stay mad wearing Shmiggy?

Who They (We) Really Are

That’s when I realized these weren’t just characters.

They were reminders:

• Celebrate the You-ness of You
• Master your IS
• Breathe in your Trust Dust
• Play your day with Hurray
• Remember — The Soulburgers and Joy Mountain are already inside

The Vision

I envision a world where:

• doctors and patients wear Soulburgers in hospitals
• police officers wear them beneath their uniforms
• lawyers, businesspeople, and politicians beneath their suits
• artists in studios
• parents in kitchens
• dreamers everywhere

Because Joy Mountain lives within.

Joy Mountain Studios

The Soulburgers have even bigger plans. They keep telling me to write their story — and who can resist them?

The Soulburgers cartoon series is currently in development at Joy Mountain Studios.

Ready-to-Wear Joy

My parents owned a clothing store when I was growing up called The London Style Shop. A few weeks ago, I suddenly realized that in my own unique way, I’m carrying on the family legacy of bringing ready-to-wear joy to the world.

I dedicate Soulburgers in loving memory to my parents, Harvey and Doris Simmonds, who I know are guiding me from Soulburgers Heaven.

Oh wait… hear that? It’s my mother saying, “When are you going to get married already?”

Soon, Mama. Soon, I promise. 😄