About Me
I’m an American poet, writer, editor, and communications strategist based in Rome. I’ve spent most of my professional life helping others to share words that matter. My experience spans a range of mission-driven industries and interests—from healthcare and education to non-profit and creative work.
I earned my MFA in creative nonfiction at Northwestern and an MA in literature at the University of Iowa. Several of my essays have garnered national recognition, including a prestigious Pushcart nomination. I am also proud to have co-edited The Healer’s Burden, which allowed me to work closely with 32 writers and poets on a timely book, just as the pandemic hit. Then in 2022 I moved to Rome to help grow a Catholic nonprofit and study at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, where I’ve earned two diplomas: one in theological studies and one in spiritual theology. Founding With All Your Heart Catholic Writing Workshop has been my way of thanking God for his generosity to me for these amazing opportunities. The time spent in the Eternal City has harmonized my literary and communications expertise with theological formation and desire to foster the faith. And I’ve had the chance to collaborate with the most amazing people from all over the world.
Of the millions of words I’ve studied in my lifetime, my favorite is one odd, defunct word from Old English: reordberend, or “voice-bearer”—a word for “person.” It’s poetic shorthand for the idea that our voices are essential to our humanity—the guiding principle in my career with words. Reordberend is notably found in the wildly creative 8th-century Anglo-Saxon poem, “The Dream of the Rood,” in which the Cross itself speaks to a dreamer, one of the “voice-bearers,” whose job it is by the end of the poem to go out and share the amazing things he has heard and learned. I like to think I can relate.