I grew up in Riverhead, New York, a lot faster than most kids had to–it’s cool though, I’m funny now because of it (if not slightly hellbent; a requisite for successful creatives, in my opinion). Always the kid who talked too much, did too much, just was too much, I should’ve known that I belonged in a creative field, but this was never presented to me as an option. So, the pendulum swung the other way and I instead set out to prove every school administrator who failed me based on tardiness–despite my having an A in the class–wrong.

Though I’d worked for a long time before this point, I consider my career to have started off in D.C., when I was working at a law firm as an assistant to litigator Susan Burke, who spearheaded legislation that launched a huge sociopolitical movement (and several subsequent documentaries). Soon after, I transitioned into a Military & Foreign Affairs fellowship role–a position I had carved out myself while working as an intern–at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office on Capitol Hill. I was simultaneously getting my degree in International Security Policy–with two minors in International Economics and Middle Eastern Politics–from The George Washington University, where I learned Farsi & Arabic and graduated magna cum laude. Before packing everything up and moving to Los Angeles, I held a couple jobs in finance in Manhattan: first as a research analyst for some of the biggest hedge funds, private equity firms, and consulting firms in the country, then as a credit risk analyst at Credit Suisse where my purview was overseeing a large range of accounts in the MENA (Middle East & North Africa) region. At this point, I’d proven all I needed to the teachers who relegated me to in-school-suspension and deemed me a troublemaker; so, I left the office culture I never fit in with for good to create things of my own–no matter how utterly clueless or broke I was at the time.

Now, the art I made and stories I wrote since I was old enough to hold a pencil are no longer nostalgic memories; they are skills I get to utilize and build on every day. These natural inclinations–coupled by managerial skills that were strengthened by dipping my toes in practically every industry, and a sense of resourcefulness that comes with the territory of having ambitions with zero connections–are what made it possible for me to move up to a department head in production almost immediately. I plan to only expand from here. I was invited into the Art Directors Guild only a few years (but also hundreds of sets) after my first ever production job, which was a three-week-long unpaid gig I had gotten off Craigslist where I had to bartend in between 12-hour-long set days. This is only just the beginning, and I look forward to being able to elevate in the field by making things out of everything I’ve been through, done, and learned over the years.