Lisa earned degrees in Vocal Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, (B.M. and M.M.) and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., (D.M.A.). Notable awards she has received are the Carson Silver Medal and monetary award at the American Traditions Competition of Savannah! Onstage and the prestigious Theresa Pollak Outstanding Vocalist of the Year Award for Excellence in the Arts from Richmond Magazine. Internationally, she was an Artistic Ambassador for the United States to South America with pianist Melanie Day, performed at the International Conference for Moral Rearmament in Caux, Switzerland and with the Amalfi Music and Arts Festival in Vietro sul Mare, Italy.
Her performances featuring the works of African-American composers and other contemporary works have also received critical acclaim. She is a member of composer Matthew Burtner’s EcoSono Ensemble and is featured in a DVD recording of the climate change opera, Auksalaq at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., The Ceiling Floats Away with texts by acclaimed poet, Rita Dove and Icefield. Other recordings in which she is featured are The Cross-Cultural Clarinet with Canadian clarinetist, Shawn Earle, and A Crown of Stars by Andrew Earle Simpson with the Cantate Chamber Singers (Washington, D.C.), Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra by composer, Leslie Savoy Burrs. She is an Associate Professor at Longwood University and section leader at St. James’s Episcopal Church.