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Carla Cornick is a multidisciplinary creative, storyteller, speaker, and award-winning entrepreneur whose work bridges art, authorship, music, and community leadership. Based in South Jersey, Carla's creative journey spans decades and continents, with a body of work that explores themes of identity, agency, ancestral memory, and healing.Born in Okinawa, Japan, during her father's military service, Carla's life has been steeped in cultural richness and global perspective from the very beginning. She studied music and theology at a small Christian college in Delaware and went on to serve for over 18 years as a worship leader, musician, and choir director-traveling the world to share her gift of music in Japan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, every province in Canada, and across the United States. In addition to performing, she helped develop music and A/V departments for growing congregations and founded choirs and chorales that remain active today.Her entrepreneurial spirit emerged in 2013 with the launch of a handcrafted online boutique, pioneering satin-lined hats for the Black hair care market. That same year, she rediscovered her love for performance through community theater and became an advocate for local artists, eventually joining the board of the South Camden Theatre Company in Camden, NJ.From 2017 to 2019, Carla served as the award-winning Creative Studio Coordinator for Joann Fabrics in Mt. Laurel and North Philadelphia, honing her fiber arts skills. During the pandemic, she sewed over 3,000 masks for first responders and local communities-an act of service that sparked her passion for quilting. Her first exhibit, Covid Quilts, debuted in February 2021, and since then, her art quilts and watercolors have been exhibited, collected, and celebrated for their vibrant storytelling. In October 2024, she held her first solo exhibit at The Hunter Gallery in Merchantville, NJ.In 2025, Carla released her debut novel, Braids-a deeply woven narrative merging history, healing, and soul resonance. She sees her writing, art, and music as threads of the same tapestry: vehicles for connection, resilience, and transformation. Through Braids, her speaking engagements, and her platform Be Your Own SHERO, Carla encourages others to embrace authenticity, reclaim agency, and find beauty in their own stories.Whether through a quilt, a painting, a satin-lined accessory, or a story shared from the stage, Carla's heartbeat is the same-to inspire, to heal, and to help others remember who they truly are.She lives in Burlington County, NJ, with her husband, Henry McClendon, serves on the board of the South Camden Theatre Company, and is represented by The Hunter Gallery in Merchantville, NJ.
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