As A Writer:

My journey with writing begins in the Midwest. It was in the Midwest that I discovered the surrealism in the every day, and my love for experimental art and narratives. With this love in mind, I attended Brown University for my MFA in Literary Arts. During this time I continued working on my debut novel, The Unfortunates, a work of experimental autofiction, written in the form of an undergraduate thesis. Thus far in my writing career, I am grateful to have been a LAMBDA fellow, and to have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of Net, or short-listed for the Tarpaulin Sky Book Award. My writing has received coverage in the New York Times Book Review, Ebony, Bustle, and was selected as a Buzz Pick with Good Morning America.

As A Teacher

My experiences struggling in academia while undiagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia have profoundly impacted how I advise and teach creative writing.  Shame and exhaustion filled my time as a student because I was constantly working against my mind and my interests. When I began teaching in 2019, I started a never-ending journey of discovering techniques for advising and instructing creative writing, which could celebrate and advocate my students’ creativity and the unique curvatures of their minds.. 

Over the years, as I taught at Brown University and with UCLA extension, and advised creative writing at the University of Chicago, I developed an interdisciplinary teaching practice. I lean toward an interdisciplinary practice because there is never solely one way of accessing your creativity. There are a plethora of options open to us, we just have to wait, listen, and learn what option is the one that we need. 

My hopes are for my students to discover their joys when writing, for them to strengthen their skills in research and analysis across media, and for them to experiment and learn new editorial methods. And most importantly, for them to learn how and where to find their creative communities. I hope for all this and more because I believe that once a writer can love, liberate, and celebrate their works, they will do the same for every person or piece of art that they encounter.