About

I’m a writer, researcher, and speaker interested in how people make sense of their lived experiences.

My work draws on qualitative research, reporting, long-form storytelling, and years of living and working across cultures. I tell stories that foster a deeper understanding of people, place, and culture, with a particular interest in what becomes visible when we slow down enough to listen.

Before becoming a full-time writer, I earned a PhD and worked for many years as a professor, teaching multicultural issues, comparative education, and qualitative research both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My research focused on girls’ education, primarily in India and Cambodia. Through my teaching and research, my focus was always on contextualizing lived experience and questioning systems that produce inequality.

I left academia to bring research-driven storytelling to a broader public audience. Since then, my work has taken me across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and South Asia, often through long-term stays rather than brief assignments. I’m interested in what emerges when curiosity is paired with time, presence, and relationships, allowing stories to unfold slowly.

I’m currently working on a large-term research project on women working in the global coffee industry. The fieldwork for this project has taken me to countries including Ethiopia, Colombia, Rwanda, and Guatemala where I’ve interviewed over 50 women. I have shared many of these stories in a variety of publications, including Standart, Barista Magazine, Daily Coffee News, and Hyperallergic. I also serve as the travel editor for St. Louis Magazine, where I oversee a weekly travel newsletter.

On my Substack, (un)rooted, I write weekly essays on culture, place, belonging, movement, and making sense of a life in motion. I also co-host monthly conversations that further explore these same ideas. As a speaker, I weave research with lived experience through talks and workshops on qualitative research, storytelling, culture, belonging, travel, and the practice of paying attention.