I grew up on Long Island, where I attended competitive public middle and high schools. I studied my tail off and attended Harvard University for undergrad, where I made my own major called Expression and Culture Studies.
I spent much of my 20s living and teaching abroad. I served in the Peace Corps three times. I lived in Azerbaijan for over two years, and West Africa (Togo and Benin) for over two years. I have also spent two months or more in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, and Turkey.
I enjoy and speak various foreign languages: Spanish, French, Azerbaijani. I have also studied a lot of Italian and a little Lama and Russian.
Over the years, I have mainly been a writer, a singer-songwriter, and an independent radio producer. I have released two folk albums and an ethnographic memoir, and my work has appeared on Weekend America and The Splendid Table. I have also worked as a private cook, a living history tour guide, an English teacher, and a girls’ empowerment agent. I led student choruses in Azerbaijan, Togo, and Benin.
I especially delight in dance—both social, partner, and private, meditative styles. In 2013, I earned an MFA from Goddard College in Interdisciplinary Arts, a low-residency program that enabled me to explore that interest alongside writing, music, and radio.
After returning from West Africa, I settled in Asheville, North Carolina, where I am currently raising my 6-year-old daughter and trying to carve out a meaningful, balanced existence for us both.