My first teaching gig was nearly 5,000 miles away from home, in the small town of Szolnok, Hungary. I had just graduated Lynchburg College with a BA in English, and having grown up in Virginia my entire life, I was eager to experience something cultural and new. I figured teaching English abroad would be the most intense, interesting, and educational way to jumpstart a career in teaching. Now, ten years later, I can say that my initial teaching experience abroad was the tipping point in my life, for it led me to become not only a lifelong teacher, but a lifetime student as well.

自2005, I have gone on to teach English in Poland and Hungary, and also back in my hometown, Manassas, Virginia. I have taught English and Literature to high school students, ESL to adult professionals, and last year I taught Creative Writing to Honors Freshmen at Virginia Commonwealth University. At VCU's Writing Center I privately tutored students, helping them write and revise their essays for their final portfolios. Having played guitar since the age of fourteen (and also touring in a couple rock bands), I have some experience teaching music and guitar as well.

My education includes a BA in English, an MA in European Studies, and an MFA in Creative Writing (fiction).

In my spare time I like reading, writing creatively, and playing music. Most weekends in New York I try to visit a museum or see a concert, and many-a-Sundays you'll find me burrowed in a cafe and reading manuscripts for my day-time job (a literary agency).