CV
Education & Experience
January 2019 - November 2020
MFA in Fiction
Mountainview MFA Program
Graduated from Southern New Hampshire University's Mountainview MFA Low-Residency Creative Writing program with a concentration in Fiction. Nominated class graduation speaker.
September 2016 - December 2018
BA in English and Creative Writing
Southern New Hampshire University
Graduated summa cum laude from Southern New Hampshire University. Member of International English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta.
January 2020 - Current
Business Analyst
Assist with contract writing for the sharing of data with pharmaceutical partners in accordance with company and federal guidelines. Design and QA data reports for clients.
January 2014 - January 2020
Lead Pharmacy Technician
In addition to standard technician duties, designed and maintained the departmental intraweb and data-sharing ecosystem. Wrote standard operating procedures for specialty programs.
January 2010 - August 2015
Logistics Staff
Operated as editorial assistant for storytelling staff as both a scenario/content creator and game runner. Planned club events, including site reservation, menu creation, supply ordering, and organization of kitchen staff.
May 2008 - April 2011
Graphic Design Team Leader
Designed marketing and press materials for self-published authors (fiction and non-fiction), including bookmarks, business cards, press releases.
Portfolio
Writing Samples
Creative Non-Fiction
Pan
There was a logic in his belly that made everything he said the truth. He used it to build people into heroes, to make them feel glorious, to draw followers to his empty church. I fell into the rhythm of his tatta-tat cadence without noticing I’d begun to march.
I was nineteen, he was older.
The first words I said to him were, “I will f***ing cut you.”
This pleased him. He laughed from his gut and told me we would be friends.
Fiction
Snippet - Sexy Coffee
This time, the moan cannot be restrained. I wrap both hands around the mug reverently and pray to the porcelain receptacle that boldly declares: HERE'S A CUP OF CALM THE F*** DOWN.
I drink as much of the coffee in one swig as the heat will allow.
"Jeezus, that's good coffee." My voice cracks.
"I know," Megan says. "I'd marry it if it were legal for people to marry brewed liquids. I wouldn't even miss the sex. Although, it's a modern blend, so I'm sure it wouldn't mind an open marriage. It might even suggest it. It's a very progressive roast. European. Totally organic."
Fiction
Snippet - Hope is Born
At the beginning, there existed only humans and the beasts of the earth. There were no angels, nor gods. No monsters, nor demons. There were no faeries. The world existed entirely without magic. It got on quite well without it, in fact. Humankind wanted for nothing, for the earth provided food, the sun provided warmth, and the air provided breath. But when the winter came, all changed.
Men were wholly unprepared when the chill of winter swept the land. It blanketed the world in snow and ice. It killed the crops and froze the water. It brought with it sickness and darkness and death. Creatures once tame bit the hands of their masters. Babes once lively died in their mother's arms.
Close Reading
We are Infinite and Supreme
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s short story, “Through the Flash,” is set in a peri-apocalyptic world in which the residents of a small district relive the same day—the day the world ended—in perpetuity. The Groundhog Day-style nightmare is narrated by forever-fourteen-year-old Ama Knife Queen Adusei, who starts her day by checking the knife under her pillow, fetching tea for her elderly, flu-ridden neighbor, and mercifully allowing her father to murder her. This, for Ama, is not out of the ordinary. She wakes up the next morning and lives the day over again.
Craft Essay
Characterization in Circe by Medeleine Miller
Madeline Miller’s speculative fiction novel is a love letter to the Greek mythological figure Circe, following the goddess through a feminist retelling of her story. In it, she is not the witch of myth who lures innocent men with her voice and heartlessly transforms them into pigs. She is not the cruel sorceress who is tricked by—and then submits to the will of—Odysseus. Instead, Miller portrays Circe as a woman who has been taught by experience that the world is a violent, imposing place filled with people who take what they want and burn the rest. While Miller’s portrayal of Circe is an excellent exercise in characterization, however, her subject’s circumstances and the scope of the novel’s time frame undercut the believability of her minor characters.
Fiction
Snippet - Green
Valerian root, dried, smells like toe jam and belly button funk. It's impossible to get out from under your fingernails. May had washed her hands half a dozen times, but her fingertips still smelled like feet. She sniffed her nailbeds and made a face. She was going to need the world's most rigorous manicure.
The saucepot on the stove hit a rolling boil. May glanced at her watch, then turned the burner down by half. The tea needed to simmer at least five minutes, no more than eight, or the herbs would over-steep and be useless.
She'd have to crush more valerian root if she ruined it.