About Us

Service Dog In Training, our new recruit, Elsa Bear, joins The Team in April 2023.

The original TeddyBear was Theodore Bear, "Theo", a trained goldendoodle service dog from the West Coast. He was such a good boy! But he arrived with osteochondrosis in his shoulder and developed anxiety from the pain. The irony was that Geeky Girl also deals with shoulder pain, bone issues, and lots of anxiety. Theo had surgery and retired to the Eastern Seacoast. GeekyGirl did not.

Elsa Bear is about 10 weeks old and, when full grown, will be about a third of the size of Theo. She's an Australian Labradoodle and such a good girl! She's been through puppy basic training bootcamp and has so much more training ahead of her to get her Service Dog stripes. Want to help with her training (or buy her a treat?)

Creative Director of Beez Ink Studio, LLC and Bumblebat® Books

Sandy Steen Bartholomew is an author, illustrator, cartoonist, and mixed-media artist with a focus on creativity and mental health. She identifies with the Neurodivergent profile but her diagnosis includes more letters than the alphabet! Although she can't usually remember what all the letters stand for, she defends her "Gifted (2E)" label by her ingenius reuse of some of the letters to spell witty slogans. For example: Menopause, Aspergers, Depression, 2E (Gifted), Anxiety, Trauma = "MADe 2EAT"

So... where was I? Ah! Sandy has published a buttload of Zentangle books, and a few children's books, with various publishers. Over her past few lives, she has worked as an exhibit designer in a childrens' museum, a rubber stamp designer, painted furniture and murals, freelanced in the illustration world, owned a creativity general store, taught gajillions of Zentangle classes and at retreats, and sketch-noted at conferences. She has also traveled all over the world, and raised two neurodivergent kids. She is very tired.

No, seriously, she is. Very tired. No more traveling. No more teaching. No more freelancing. She wants to focus on finding her tribe, training her service puppy, drawing comics about mental health, and painting whatever comes into her head. And sharing all of it - here on this site. With You! Join the Tribe!

Manager of The Beehive and Bumblebat.

After years serving as the poster girl for The Beehive - the name for the IRL, brick and mortar, studio space and shop - Bea B. is thrilled to be promoted to manager of both the physical studio AND the online shop, Bumblebat.com - a huge honor! Although her arms are spindly, and her wings are tiny - her brain is huge and buzzing with creative energy!

Emotional Support Cat, Director of Human & Creature Resources

What does that en-tail? Being ineffable. Sitting on GeekyGirl's arms when she's trying to type. Using her tail and butt to keep the Zoom screen free of dust. Keeping humans on task as to meal times and poop scooping (hers, not theirs). Escorting tiny rodents in to the Studio and depositing their paralyzed corpses where GeekyGirl can't help but notice and appreciate Minou's talents and devotion. And using her entire body to hold down drawings and paintings on the drafting table. Those suckers aren't going anywhere. Thanks Minou.

Physical & Mental Maintenance and Operations

What can we say about the ID? They aren't very good at maintaining anything, but they sure are passionate. The Inner Demons roster includes hundreds (thousands?) of employees, but the main crew is made up of CDO (OCD), Anxiety, Depression, Introvert, Imagination, Creativity, Self-Care, Puff/Inner Bitch, and the Ostroboglin. 

They find their way into everything GeekyGirl does and are the heart and soul of their own never-ending graphic novel. No, seriously, it will never be finished. Unless, perhaps, enough people support this site and GeekyGirl can stop panicking about money and get back to drawing! Nudge-nudge. 

The title of the graphic novel, and the Inner Demons' beloved mantra - is "We Will Never Leave You!" Say it loud! Say it like you mean it! Now stop because it's making us anxious!