Jenifer 'Mountain' Bliss is a founder of the Felix Gillet Institute, founding member of the Sierra Muses Press and Workshop, faerie grandmother, an author and WMA (Woman of Many Abilities).  She was raised in a multi-cultural family where various languages, classical music, literature and art were highly valued. She was the oldest of three, with two younger brothers. Her father was a Shakespearian actor and her mother a school teacher and loving homemaker, who always said, “You can do whatever you put your mind to.”

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With her maternal grandfather, a concert pianist and orchestral conductor, her early memories include  many musical soirees and rehearsals where music, delicious food and lively conversations abounded. She would often curl up with her blanket under the grand piano and fall asleep to the powerful sounds of live classical music. On quieter nights, her grandmother read poetry and animated bedtime stories, dramatizing the characters with theatrical flair. This rich symphony of arts, music and words blended together to create a lively imagination.

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In her teen years, Jenifer lived with her family on the edge of a canyon in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was there that she discovered Nature; hiking in the rain, swimming in the mountain streams, listening to the wind and talking to trees, integral parts of understanding a deeper connection to all living things.

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Jenifer was a devoted wife to her late husband Amigo Bob Cantisano. She is the mother of two grown children, a grandmother, a faerie grandmother to numerous children, President/Director of the Felix Gillet Institute, author, and devoted to the arts. She lives with her dogs on a beautiful, organic farm in Northern California where she hosts Airbnb guests in the lovely Madrone Room at Heaven and Earth Farm.

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