I grew up the youngest of nine on a farm in rural Minnesota in a fundamentalist religion. TV, music, dancing, birth control, and questioning were considered sin. I left at 21 and eventually found my way to New York City, where I've spent the last two decades building a life that was unimaginable to the girl I used to be.
Along the way, I became a personal trainer, a doula, an Emmy-nominated television personality, a graduate student, and a podcast producer. Eventually I ran out of ways to avoid becoming a writer. So here I am, telling the truth about where I came from.
These days, I split my time between training a handful of long-term clients, producing podcasts about the craft of life writing, and working on my own books. I produce BIO Podcast for Biographers International Organization — most recently a six-episode documentary season following four biographers through the real work of writing biography. I also produce an audio memoir called The Silence Between Hello, which reached 35,000+ downloads.
I have an MA in Biography & Memoir from CUNY Graduate Center and a BA in English/Creative Writing and Black Studies from City College, where I graduated summa cum laude. I'm currently applying to PhD programs.
I live in Jersey City with my husband James and our dog.