Sinéad was born in New Jersey in the early 1960s. Her family moved to Ottawa, Canada when she was four years old, by which time she was already "assisting" in home repairs and renovations, carrying around her own tools and toolbox. Over time Sinéad became adept at reassembling the things she took apart... without any left over parts. This was the beginning of a passion for tool restoration.

Sinéad soon became proficient at repairs and maintenance around her family's home and cottage, (including carpentry, plumbing, electrical and landscaping jobs), as they restored a 150 yr. old farmhouse in the heart of Adirondack Park (upstate NY). Rebuilding the workshop included stabilizing the foundation and structure, reinforcing the interior and re-siding the exterior. Safety was paramount in all endeavours; the volunteer fire department was at least 25 minutes away, and the nearest hospital was at least an hour away.

In high school Sinéad's passion for art was awakened when she discovered the photo lab and the wood shop. To satisfy a music credit she built a Celtic harp, realizing in the process that she was better at making instruments than making music. Another credit was filled along with her love of rowing by building a single rowing shell which she subsequently rowed in competition.

Sinéad attained her Bachelor of Industrial Design degree at Carleton University, Ottawa in 1986. There, she was in her element in a program that blended art with engineering and balanced the cost of production with identifying and meeting user requirements. With most projects requiring visual models and having access to superb workshop facilites, Sinéad learned fabrication and production techniques in wood, metal, plastic and plaster.

After graduation, realizing that she was still better at creating her visions in 3 dimensions than in 2 dimensions, Sinéad spent the summer of 1989 at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto taking Life Drawing and Product Rendering courses. Between visits to the harbour-front and local museums she had a wonderful time scouting downtown construction sites to sketch the heavy equipment.

In 1990 she realized her goal of working for Henry Dreyfuss Associates in New York City, the company that was founded by the designer of the modern telephone. This job presented the opportunity of applying her human factors education to the analysis of user requirements, cognitive psychology, and systems analysis.

Sinéad moved back to Ottawa in 1993 to work for Northern Telecom, now Nortel Networks, as a Senior User Interface Designer. During a visit to the 1996 Ottawa Woodshow, where the Valley Woodturners demonstrate woodturning and host the woodturning competition, her interest in woodturning was reawakened. In 1997, she bought and restored a second-hand lathe and has been Spinning Madly (and happily) ever since.

She maintains memberships in the:

American Association of Woodturners
Cumberland Arts & Crafts Guild
Gloucester Craftsman's Guild
Ontario Crafts Council
Valley Woodturners