Before I was a writer, I was a listener and reader. As a child, I loved adventure stories, mythology, and fairytales. Each summer, my grandfather would read Ivanhoe to me from an old linen-bound book, his Texan drawl tethering me to Sir Walter Scott’s adventure set in 12th-century England. Before I was a photographer, I admired the black and white photographs my parents took in Vietnam, where my mother was born: a blurred bicyclist on the street, ocean waves cresting beyond sand hills, my father’s face wrapped in my mother’s arms as they both looked up at the lens. Before I was a mentor and teacher, I was a student who benefited from the kindness and attention of deeply generous educators. 

In 2016, I earned a BA in Psychology from Cornell College, where I also studied film photography. When I returned to Austin, I worked with neurodivergent middle and high school students, supporting their development of executive functioning and life skills. As I began to actively pursue my love of writing and storytelling, I began volunteering at American Short Fiction and later became an associate editor.

In 2021, I moved to Ithaca to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at Cornell University. Afterward, I worked as a lecturer, teaching Introduction to Creative Writing and an independent course titled Hauntings in Fiction, Memoir, and Film. While I specialized in fiction, my deep appreciation for other genres is reflected both in my practice and teaching of poetry, personal essays, and short stories. At Cornell, I discovered how passionate I am about shaping learning environments informed by engaged curiosity and care. I found it deeply fulfilling to help students articulate their interior worlds and contexts through writing.

In addition to volunteering in the arts, my service work has often centered on providing resources and opportunities to people living in incarceration. I am a reader for the Insider Prize, have written letters and sent reading materials on behalf of the Inside Books Project, and tutored in a maximum-security prison through the Cornell Prison Education Program.

Creativity, curiosity, and care are the values I work to embody in my life and across my creative pursuits.