A native Californian, born and raised in San Diego, Jeudi is the youngest of five children (and the only daughter) in a large Latin family. Her homemaker mother often spoke of childhood during the Great Depression and her WWII adolescence, filled with USO swing dance contests, working in an airplane factory, and living through loss, deprivation, and challenge. Meanwhile, her entrepreneur father recounted tales of boyhood adventures in Costa Rica—from being a child laborer to working as a pole-and-line tuna fisherman during WWII, which led to a green card. Jeudi spent countless hours poring over her parents' black-and-white photo albums, where everyone was stylish and everything looked intriguing; familiar yet different.

Her maternal roots trace back to Mexico. Her grandmother came from San José del Cabo in Baja California, a region whose people are affectionately called “Choyera” after the cholla cactus—rugged, resilient, and thriving in harsh conditions. Her maternal grandfather was from Jalisco, which has the cultural pride of giving Mexico mariachi music and tequila. Meanwhile, her father's Costa Rican roots bring the philosophy of “pura vida,” embodying joy, wonderment, and gratitude. All of these attributes are part of her cultural DNA.

Jeudi attributes her wistful artistic leanings to times spent at her Tata's house in Barrio Logan, daydreaming to the sounds of a Victrola; growing up mostly in hand-me-downs; and being introduced to the Great American Songbook as she pumped the pedals on the family’s player piano, singing along with piano roll songs from the 1920s and 30s.

The extended family mostly lived nearby, with tíos acting as multiple parents, and cousins blending like siblings. Jeudi was the kid who preferred to pull up a chair at the family table, listening intently to the adults’ stories. Her family were great raconteurs, delighting in sharing origin stories of hardship, heartbreak, ingenuity, romance, resilience, resolve, triumph—and wit. Humor often came from how ingenuity was applied to outwit difficult circumstances.

Jeudi’s favorite part was when the stories turned to magic realism, mystery, and miracles. Saints lived side-by-side with family; altars were lovingly tended by the mothers, who also passed on traditions of herbal healing, gardening, art-making, and family recipes and lore.

Now, with most elders passed, Jeudi is the family archivist, keeper of the kin, and steward of the sacred task to preserve history, chronicle the past, and build bridges to the present. Deeply invested in genealogical pursuits, she restores family rituals, photographs, and traditions, transcending language limitations.

At the heart of Jeudi’s work is storytelling through song—she believes the story dictates the medium. Holding an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from CalArts and skills as a singer, writer, performer, director, researcher, documentarian, dramaturg, and “musical archaeologist,” she creates one-woman and small ensemble jukebox musicals drawn from her autobiographical and fictional writings. Her works have been described as “atmospheric,” inviting audiences to traverse time and memory via song—often through music that has been mostly lost to time. Through her careful reshaping of overlooked songs, Jeudi creates joyful and emotionally charged narratives that connect hearts to history and echo with cultural memory and depth.

Her passion and curiosity for the past inform all aspects of her work and life. Drawing on extensive research, Jeudi highlights forgotten works and narratives, investigating family dynamics, cross-cultural identity, and legacy. Her work centers on themes of love, family, identity, inclusion, and Spirit—with heart and humor.

As a performer, she goes by “Jeudi,” a nickname she adopted in her teens after a French exchange student hosted by her family repeatedly mispronounced her given name. Her French class pals thought it was chic & international. Her theatre dept pals thought it was the perfect stage name. She agreed with both groups & chose it as her stage name.

Jeudi earned the moniker “Vintage-Voiced Chanteuse” from a cabaret impresario. Known for singing salvaged sweet jazz from an era when the dance floor was the ultimate social stage and romance was just a Fox Trot, Charleston, or Lindy Hop away, Jeudi’s voice exudes the romance of Old Hollywood. She transports audiences through song, evoking the old-school thrush who sings with the band, refreshing timeless standards and forgotten gems with sentimental, swinging interpretations.

Jeudi is resilient and strong. Prior to meeting her husband of 31 years in grad school at CalArts, she “kissed a lot of frogs and several toads”; throughout her reproductive years she endured chronic pain from endometriosis and infertility; she went through the IVF process; eventually giving birth to twins born two months prematurely, who spent time in the NICU; it was a challenge parenting twins on the autism spectrum, yet she learned all she could in order to become their best advocate and navigate the therapies and IEPs, her career went from job to “jobby” till she restarted it in 2015 with an album release. Follow up recordings projects were done between 2017-2019, but then there were 8 family deaths and job downsizing and a breast cancer diagnosis. Jeudi went through two surgeries and then radiation therapy started during the 2020 COVID lockdown. The happy ending is that she came through it all stronger, wiser, healthy and inspired.

As a native Californian, who grew up rooted in a culture of reinvention and creative possibility, throughout all of these challenges, Jeudi never lost faith or optimism. As a descendant of Latin immigrants, she inherited wit, stoicism and an indefatigable spirit fueled by the tough “Choyera” resilience, the joyful “Pura Vida” philosophy, plus the harmonies harkening from Jalisco and, on occasion, a well-timed shot of tequila.

Jeudi weaves storytelling and spirituality into everyday life by creating artful altars and vignettes that hold vigil within the home, acting as a foundation of love and a form of praying without ceasing. As an altarista (altar maker), she seeks to create spaces that elevate, focus, and align body, mind & spirit. She believes that lifting the vibrational energy of the planet starts with creating a loving, peace-filled and joyful sanctuary at home.

Jeudi lives in Southern California with her husband, award-winning director/producer Paul Hemstreet, co-founder with Jeudi of their family-based art collective, Home And Yonder, which you can explore on the homepage. They enjoy life with their twins, animator Gustavo Hemstreet and evolutionary biologist/environmentalist Joaquine Hemstreet.