I am a Chicago-based writer who culls from life experience. With a diverse background and an insatiable sense of curiosity, my work ceases to have boundaries.

For the first time since leaving New York City in 2004, I feel at home in Chicago. From the towering homes of Lincoln Park, to the beaches with skyscraper backgrounds, there is no place I would rather be. So, it is here, in Chicago, that I am planting my roots.

My foundation of work here includes never-ending work on both fiction and non-fiction books and articles. With inspiration on every porch or with each flying snowflake, my creativity has been cultivated by the City. With holes in my resume hot on my trail, I have conceded to less personality-infused work: including writing construction industry profiles and reviewing Chicago’s restaurants and bars. Some nights, I put on a magic Hawaiian shirt and become a bartender. After all, how can I create lifelike characters if I only observe from my couch?

Before moving life to the Midwest, I spent a year in nearly every young person’s dream; I lived and worked in London and Costa Rica, and traveled through Europe. I bought a one-way ticket to London in May 2006. While based there, I traveled, wrote an intense weekly blog, started a novel and a children's book and was published in a UK-based investor magazine. As an enterprise writer in Costa Rica, I went after the real stories about living in a tropical third-world country ... like not so public “public schools” and the persistent insects. They were published in a local magazine.
However, long before I broke out abroad, my life as a writer had taken shape. Ever since I learned the alphabet, I have been writing stories.

I completed my undergraduate education at the City University of New York at Hunter College. I consider Hunter to be one of the best journalism schools in New York because of its distinguished professors. They are not just teachers in a classroom. They are real journalists, breaking stories and investigating scoops.

Following graduation, I became a big fish in a little pond. I went to work as a reporter for The Walton Sun; a 12,000 circulation, award-winning, weekly newspaper, in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.

The year I spent at The Sun taught me nearly as much as my past professors had. My beat covered more than 1,000 square miles and more than 40,000 diverse people. It was a welcomed challenge for me as a first-time journalist. At The Sun, I caught some big stories, like a rescue helicopter crash and Hurricane Ivan. I also sought out lesser-known news, like religious panhandlers waylaying motorists at intersections.

Like at most small papers, I was not only a reporter, I was also a copyeditor and columnist. Happily, I learned the newspaper business. I continued to write a weekly column for the paper for the next year.

When I left The Sun, I moved to Atlanta, GA. with hopes of a job at a daily newspaper or magazine. I landed a reporter's job at a 40,000 circulation weekly. After working several large news stories, including the election of the first mayor in a newly incorporated city, I decided to market my writing as a freelancer.

It was my freelance writing that took me to destinations across the country and the oceans. Freelancing has kept me creatively and professionally satisfied. Looking into my future, I see many more miles traveled and much more terrain explored. I also see a home in Chicago and my little computer overlooking a colorful garden. Coming clearer into focus are my books selling out in stores and national magazines knocking at my door.