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Portia grew up in a tiny logging community located in southwest Washington State. Amidst cattle ranches and Wal-Marts, her love of the arts germinated over 4-H craft club meetings held in her public school's cafeteria. At 17, she received her Associates degree in photography; after, she worked the graveyard shift as a waitress at a reservation casino to earn money toward a four-year degree.

In 2000, she moved to San Francisco Bay Area to study in the Wood/Furniture program at the California College of Arts (CCA). There, her visual language developed -- drawing from anxieties felt when confronted with material girl desire, she began to create domestic pieces that reflected her views on class wars. "Coming from a small, modest town to the wealth and abundance of the Bay Area has definitely impacted my work," Portia admits, "I became interested in the items we acquire, and what we are signifying with what we buy."

Portia currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She has participated in designboom's designmart at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Her work has also received other honors including "Finalist" for the MACEF Re-think + Re-cycle Competition, the Ronald and Anita Wornick Scholarship, and "Best of Show" in the Post Picasso Distinguished Chairs exhibition. She has been published in many design journals, magazines and was recently featured in the book 'What is Product Design?'.