I grew up under evergreen trees and high-voltage power lines in my backyard in Renton, Washington, a wilderness suburb of Seattle. My passion for writing developed in high school and continued into my university years where I earned a bachelor of arts at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and a masters of arts at Western Washington University.

In the past, I’ve had the good fortune of working in classrooms as a part-time writing teacher with Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program. And from 2014-2019, I co-founded and co-curated WordsWest, a thriving, local literary reading series promoting high-quality writers of diverse race and cultural background and includes a night for children’s authors.

I’m grateful for poetry and stories in my life. I’m thankful that writing has always been a place for me to explore, examine, and find comfort whenever and however I go to it.