I am a high honors, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature with a minor in French. During my time there, I studied abroad for a semester in Paris at the Sorbonne and the Paris Center for Critical Studies. I received the Certificate of Undergraduate Excellence in French and the Distinction in the Major award for my honors undergraduate research thesis in Comparative Literature, which was on the dynamics and representations of female transgression in the "stepwomen" of folk and fairy tales. I worked as a Writing tutor at U.C.S.B., first tutoring English to ESL foreign exchange students at the university, and then went on to work on basic study skills, writing, and essay planning and writing with undergraduates from all majors and disciplines, while also advising a few PhD candidates on their thesis writing. Since graduation, I have held multiple writing and editing positions, including my positions as Deputy Fiction Editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books and Associate Editor at Phoneme Media, a Los Angeles-based world literature and translation publisher.
I am a skilled academic writer and lover of literature, and I am most passionate about tutoring English, Literature, English study skills, and Essay Writing (for both academic papers and college entrance personal statements). Not only do I believe that every student has the ability to write an essay, I believe every student has the ability to write a great one. I work to open up the blocks between students and language, changing their relationship to English and writing for the better and for the long-term...so that perhaps a tutor won't be so necessary in the future!
In my spare time, I am a vegetarian and vegan cook, a runner, a soccer player, a creative writer, and an addictive reader. I love music of all kinds, was trained in jazz vocals, and love to see the worlds of music, art, language, and academics intersect. Confidence in language and writing has the ability to open all kinds of doors to students both academically and professionally, and I hope to help unlock them.