Disciplined and exacting, meticulous, intrinsically motivated: more than a decade’s worth of experience as a professional cellist instilled in me the traits I needed to succeed as a freelancer. When I first started editing, I was delighted by the clear connections between music and language, by how easy it was to transpose my knowledge and skills from the former to the latter. It's because of the cello that I understand the importance of honing your craft and fine-tuning your product; it's because of performing that I know how it feels to present your work with the confidence that can only come from careful, deliberate preparation. Music has also given me a true appreciation of voice: the unique perspective each of us has on the world, and the unique ways we express it.

 

But I’ve always sought to expand my working horizons beyond music, too. I’ve studied nonfiction writing in a professional workshop setting, I've taught English as a second language; I helped springboard a Hawai’i nonprofit organization to the next phase of success with a comprehensive business plan for a program of my own devising. I've worn a lot of different hats, but my passion for language has always been the common thread running through these diverse experiences, knitting them together into a cohesive whole. And the more I work with language, the more respect I have for the fastidious attention good writing requires and deserves. 

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I spent the last two years traveling the world as a cellist in Holland America Line's Lincoln Center Stage piano quintet, but I'm currently working remotely from Black Lake, Michigan. When I'm not sailing, you can probably find me on a mountain somewhere--harnessed and attached to a rope, hauling a pack, or reading a book with my back to a tree.