Sallie’s development as an artist is the result of a lifetime of interacting with teachers, designers, writers, and theater professionals who could communicate their individual visions. During her teen and early adult yers, Sallie worked in the museum shops of the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York and the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts. She also assisted in costume design at the studio Arena Theater in Buffalo, New York. Following college, she worked for several years as a photographic model and mannequin for the international couture market. Beginning in 1975, Sallie had a fabric sculpture business that led to assemblage constructions prior to her current work in wood and metal. She worked as a craft development consultant for Save the Children, Aid to Artisans, and the United Nations High Command for Refugees, specializing in product design and display. Sallie managed galleries in Connecticut and New York as well as training as an artist in various media. She studied watercolor, film, ceramics, and pattern making at institutions including the State University of New York at Buffalo, New School for Social Research, New York, NY, and The Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT; The Guilford Crafts Center, Guilford, CT and F.I.T, New York, NY.