Hey there, buddy.
I’m a writer, producer, performer, and non-profit professional based in San Diego.
I moved to New York at eighteen to study writing at NYU, where my graduating year coincided with September 11th. I found it a little hard to believe the power of art would be sufficient to confront what would become a 20-year global war against terror and had little interest in watching it try. So I shifted my focus from art to world affairs, and was incredibly lucky to find a career with the United Nations, where I worked from 2004 to 2009 at UN Headquarters in New York and deployed to Juba, South Sudan, during the Sudanese civil war.
After returning home, I struggled to find my footing while living with undiagnosed PTSD, but friend by new friend, I felt a community a community wanting to come together, organically based on common interest and values. I founded So Say We All, a storytelling arts nonprofit dedicated to helping people share true stories and build community through narrative, where I served as Executive Director for seventeen years, producing live shows, teaching creative writing, and creating spaces where people could feel seen, heard, and connected.
In serving my community at large as well as populations that have been talked about more than heard from, I discovered how to combine my two deepest loves: art and community. Storytelling, for me, is both a creative practice and a civic act—and I’m excited to see where it leads next.