A classically trained pianist, Anita began writing her own music while completing a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance with Theodore Lettvin at the University of Michigan. 

 

Since then, Anita has recorded many CDs of original music including: All We Have is Now; Light; Creation Flight; Christmas Light; Lullabies From Home; If We Can Fly to the Moon; Dreaming Out to Sea; and, Songs from Within—The Magdalene Mystique.

 

In March 2006, Anita founded Purple Songs Can Fly, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a creative musical outlet for children at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers at Texas Children's Hospital. Anita created an in-house recording studio at the Hospital and works with the children and their siblings to write and record their own songs.

 

In 2010, Anita gave the commencement address at Maryville University in St. Louis and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.   Inspired by Purple Songs Can Fly, Maryville's music therapy department created "Kids Rock Cancer," providing songwriting and recording opportunities to children being treated for cancer in three St. Louis children's hospitals.