About Me

On Paper:

I’m an American/Australian artist, musician, writer, cook, and occasional standup comedian (really) currently living in Berlin. Though I was born in the US, I’ve also lived and worked in Japan, Spain, Mexico, Australia–and now, Germany. One of my career highlights was working with Anthony Bourdain (RIP) for Explore Parts Unknown. I presently work as a freelance translator and producer at Deutsche Welle, and my writing has appeared in Playboy, NPR, CNN, Gay Magazine, The Establishment, SBS, Atlas Obscura, and many (many) other titles. I was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for my essay, “In Search of Better Skies” in 2019. I was a 2021 MacDowell Colony artist in residence. I’m represented by Milly Reilly at the Jo Unwin Literary Agency in London. My essay, Good. White. Friends.™ will be published in the anthology Could This Be Love? in August 2022 with InterKontinental Press. My first novel, Notes on Her Colour (formerly known as The Colour of Her Blood), will be published in May 2023 with Catapult/Penguin Random House Australia. And I’m currently working on my second book, My Pisces Heart: A Blaxit Story, a non-fiction exploration of Black migration movements told through the lens of my own personal experience, to be published Fall 2024 with Catapult (North America).

Between the Lines:

Acerbic humor. Crispy fried plantains. Mazurkas. Puikura booths. Gouache paints. Memes. These are a few of a my favorite things. Art is the best invention of all time, and I feel like I’m pretty good at making it. I’m a textbook introvert who’s lived a life of transience, which has equipped me with the skills to throw excellent parties, because I’m used to being in situations where I need to make new friends. I used to pride myself on being an atheist, but hard times put me onto a modest evil-eye pendant obsession. I adopt the accents of people around me without thinking, which I’m told is a sign of either deep empathy or psychopathy. If it were psychopathy, then I’d be the psychopath who cries at videos of dogs being picked up by their owners at the vet. Like, a super puppy-loving psychopath. I can text in six different languages (and one of them is emoji 🤷🏾‍♀️🌶💃🏾🌮). I can speak 4.5 (and one of them is emoji 🙃🍌💀🦇🌸). I’ve been bouncing back and forth between different forms of English for so long, that I can switch within the span of a few seconds–except for when it comes to the word “aluminIum,” because–no. My interests are as varied as my playlists. I was listening to Bad Brains when I began to type this, but now it’s Duncan Sheik. I have a fetish for brutal honesty. I’m a standup comedian who takes herself too seriously. And a writer who studied painting and illustration in Chicago. Big Aquarius Energy. My resting bitch face keeps me young.