As a passionate, multi-talented storyteller and creative content producer, I aspire to develop work that entertains, excites, educates, and inspires. Whether it’s a sketch for a live Second City performance, a promotional video raising awareness for a pediatric cancer charity, or a tech company blog about the importance of software testing, I approach each piece with individualized attention and focus towards its target audience.

Videos

Smells Like Teen Poetry

When an improv brainstorm session produced the quintessential phrase “Smells Like Teen Poetry,” I knew I couldn’t let it go to waste. Somehow I convinced my boss to allow me to write, direct, and edit an April Fool’s Day video celebrating my love of 90s alternative music. Proud moment: when a parent called in to let us know how much he wished there actually were an English class based around Nirvana lyrics.

Camp One Step Dude Ranch

Camp One Step is an inspiring charity with a simple but powerful mission: to help pediatric cancer patients feel like kids again. Among their many annual offerings is a dude ranch experience in Wisconsin, and it’s so striking to see the sheer joy on these children’s faces and the bonds they form on this weeklong adventure. This video helped raise a record $370,000 in donations when it debuted at Camp One Step’s Flight Gala. 

The Journey to Shiki

As a videographer for the third-largest school district in Virginia, I was not only fortunate enough to meet incredible achievers and witness groundbreaking events, I had the honor of sharing those stories with the public. “Shiki” was a classical guitar piece composed in tribute to victims of the Japanese tsunami by Shingo Fujii that received its worldwide debut in a performance teaming the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and talented high school students. It was a beautiful work and a powerful story, and I was determined to showcase how tragedy can lead to triumph.

In the Kitchen with Anna

In the midst of the COVID-19, St. Alphonsus Young Adult Ministry wanted to find ways to connect the community. I collaborated with the team to write and produce a series of short, fun videos about how people were staying busy and sane. “In the Kitchen with Anna” is the ultimate quarantine cooking show, even if the recipe had to be…adapted during the process.

You Can Make This Stuff Up

When I took my first improv class in 2014, it opened up whole new worlds of creativity and discovery for me. Knowing that several local high schools offered extracurricular improv groups, I wanted to promote them in order to boost their profiles and encourage students to take part. At 22 minutes, it was the longest piece I worked on for Loudoun County Public Schools, and it netted me a profile feature from Washington Improv Theater.

Writing

Dear Valued Customer: Somewhere around the 57th promotional email I received from a business assuring me that they were prioritizing customer safety and modifying cleaning practices in the wake of coronavirus, I hit my breaking point. I’m proud of a lot of the jokes here, but more than that, it was pretty cathartic to write.

Digital Workplace Experience Email Blast: Now for an email that was actually sent out. When Simpler Media Group needed to convert their conferences into virtual events, I helped write a series of weekly emails promoting speakers and sponsors to attract attendees. This email was centered around the prizes and gift bag to incentivize early sign-ups.

Poker Power: I wrote a lot of site copy for Poker Power, a mission to empower one million women through teaching them how to play poker. But I’m most proud of the About page, which boasts bold, lingo-heavy language that conveys the benefits of learning the game.

Testing, Testing: Evaluating an App: For this blog post created for Katalyst Technologies in the aftermath of the chaotic 2020 Iowa caucus results delay, I interviewed the company’s Chief Systems Architect about the importance of testing apps before launching them. A lot of times when writing about technology, what’s relevant one day can be rendered completely moot the next, but I enjoyed stumbling upon a perennial topic that I could tie to current events.

The Woke Boys: My not-so-secret desire to be a part of a boy band was finally fulfilled as part of the second sketch comedy show I directed (in which I also co-wrote and performed). I’ve always had a knack for parodies and comedic songwriting, and the idea of a boy band tackling global warming was too hot to pass up. You can watch an adapted live performance of this sketch from 2019’s Viewer Depression Advised here–forgive the dance moves.

What Harry Houdini Can Teach Us About Persistence: I love tying pop culture and unusual history into “serious” topics, and while reading a biography on legendary magician Harry Houdini, I was struck by the career setbacks he faced, and how he pushed through them.

Beatles Ranking Blog: As a longtime Beatles fan–who isn’t?–I challenged myself to rank and review the over 200 songs they released in the 1960s. This ongoing project has been tremendously fun to write, and any excuse to listen to Beatles music is a good one. I’ve linked to one of my favorite entries, about the song “Do You Want to Know a Secret,” but if you want to check out the full ranking, it’s available here. (And yes, I know I put “Yesterday” too low.)