My Husband and Business Partner Has Bipolar Disorder. Here's How We Manage It Together. Like so many people -- and so many entrepreneurs -- my husband and business partner struggles with his mental health. I'm speaking up so others know: With the right understanding, life and business can still be good.

My husband, glass sculptor and artist Dale Chihuly, has bipolar disorder. He started suffering from periods of depression as a college student in the '60s, but he wasn't diagnosed until he reached his early 50s. That was about the time he and I met — I worked with him on what would become a breakthrough exhibition, Chihuly Over Venice — and the time that I first witnessed his rapid shifts in mood and prolonged periods of depression or hypomania.

From that earliest creative partnership, Dale and I went on to travel the world together, have a child, and get married. Today, I'm the president and CEO of Chihuly Studio. Bipolar disorder has been a part of our conversations from the beginning, and we've long discussed the positive and negative aspects of this diagnosis on our personal and professional lives.

But for a long time, we chose not to discuss Dale's disorder publicly. That changed recently, when our son reached adulthood. Now we're comfortable openly sharing our story, and we are hoping to cut through misinformation and stigma and change the conversation around mental health. Because while Dale is an extraordinary person, his diagnosis is ordinary.