ABOUT
One of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had as a performer – one of the times in life I’ve felt most useful – was in the hospital room of a dying man, surrounded by his family, singing his favorite Gospel songs.
The ability the performing arts endow us with to make someone happy, raise awareness of an issue, or present a world different from one’s own are key motivations for me. If you’d like to read more about my artistic philosophy, background, and goals, please read this separate post.
If you’d like to know more about my credentials and work experience, keep reading this page.
My lifelong passions can be summarized as:
- Learning
- Expression through the performing arts
My background in music and theatre includes working as a performer, composer, sound designer, musical director, and vocal instructor throughout North America and Western Europe; highlights include performing for Disney Cruise Line (Mary Poppins, u/s Belle) and composing for Shakespeare productions. For more, please see my Résumé and related areas of this site.
My academic musical training includes:
- New York University (Steinhardt): Master of Music in Vocal Performance (Music Theatre)
- Pensacola Christian College: Bachelor of Arts in Music (Vocal Performance)
- Millikin University: Opera in Italy program
Formal language training includes:
- University of Cambridge: Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA)
- Institut Catholique de Paris: French language (B2.1 proficiency)
- Study at private language schools while living abroad, in French (B2.2), Italian (C1), and German (B1.2)
Experiences studying abroad have been some of my most personally fulfilling and enriching, and I encourage anyone who has the opportunity, to spend time living in other cultures and learning about different ways of living, thinking, and Being.
Relatedly, I enjoy studying diverse areas of the social and behavioral sciences. Formal training includes:
- Georgetown University: Graduate study in Linguistics (primarily sociolinguistics)
- University of California – Irvine: Lingustic Anthropology
- Pensacola Christian College: undergraduate minor in History
- Coursework through the Sorbonne, University of Oklahoma, and University of California – Berkeley
My interest in sociolinguistics/linguistic anthropology stems from observing how the various cultures in which I have lived practice language. Studying other languages has enabled me to examine the form of English into which I was enculturated and how this has impacted worldview and choice. Areas of focus include language ideologies, the performativity of language in fundamentalist groups, and science communication.
As I move forward in my career, I hope to fuse my interests by helping create entertainment materials informed by research to help spread prosocial messages. I would also love to continue studies in arts therapy.