Hi, I’m Mandi!

So, I’m sure you are all wondering where I came up with such a unique name for my business. I’m going to get to that, I promise. First, let me just introduce myself. My name is Mandi. I am a wife to Ryan, and a mother to a sweet little boy named Asher and two golden retrievers, Hank and Benny. I lost my soul dog in April 2025…my sweet Ted was 15 years young. If you know me, you know that dog was such an important part of my life, and will forever be a part of me. In 2013 I graduated from BGSU with my Masters in Speech Language Pathology. I still work PRN at the hospital, specializing in the treatment of swallowing disorders with head and neck cancer patients…and I love my job! But, my life changed drastically after the birth of my son…which led me to where I am today.

In 2018, when I was pregnant with Asher, I became very ill. I developed a life-threatening infectious mass in my chest that spread to my heart and lungs. My son had to be delivered early in order to save both of our lives. After the birth, my infection got worse, and I was placed in the cardiac ICU at the Cleveland Clinic while my son was in another building in the NICU. Not really the circumstances you want as a first-time mom. Well, long story short, the NICU had a system in place where I could see my son anytime I wanted from my phone, kind of like FaceTime...and the password they gave him was, yep you guessed it…COPPER SQUIRREL.

After I had a very scary, near death experience, my outlook on life really changed. I was only allowed to work part time due to ongoing heart issues, which was hard for me to accept at first since my job always came first. However, being at home more with my son made me realize I may not have always had my priorities straight. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a speech pathologist, but having more time at home meant I could do some things that I never dreamed I’d be able to, like learn more about photography. I spent countless hours learning the ins and outs of the art, and finally decided to take the leap and start my very own business, Copper Squirrel Photography, in 2022.

Unfortunately, I continued battling chronic pericarditis, and after years of different medications to try to cure the disease, the decision was made for me to undergo a radical pericardiectomy (open-heart surgery) in 2023 before experiencing any long-term damage to my heart. I dea a few road bumps since recovery, but now I am feeling the best I have ever felt. Stronger, healthier, and ready to follow my dreams and capture yours. I wouldn’t be here today without my little copper squirrel, so he is the reason for that “silly” name. But let’s be serious, who can forget a name like copper squirrel?!