How I Got Here

I'm a freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, looking to take on full-time investigative narrative journalism after six years juggling part-time reporting and stay at home motherhood.

My focus is all things Sonoma and Napa counties, particularly public safety and the environment. I also report on community news and general features, including sexy stuff like reservoirs, municipal wastewater systems and fire department mergers. I am open to sports-related reporting and investigation.

My work has been recognized by Investigative Reporters & Editors, the National Educational Telecommunications Association,  the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Associated Collegiate Press.

I earned my journalism degree in 2006 from the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism, but worked briefly in public relations after graduating. I then transitioned to B2B sales for the world’s largest mailing and shipping solutions company. My portfolio included major and government accounts on both the east and west coasts, where I deployed a consultative sales strategy the company hoped to emulate in other markets.

Thanks to this career detour, I can interview effectively to uncover an operation's key details and workflow, understand bid processes, handle public records  and earn stakeholders’ trust.

After leaving sales in 2014, I conducted genealogical research and narrative non-fiction writing for private clients.

I traveled across the U.S. to access historical records in courthouses, museums and family living rooms, after which I blended those records with history and family lore to bring my clients’ ancestors alive. This work required meticulous organization, reliable recall and a relentless drive to uncover the truth (as well as a knack for reading old cursive).

It was during this period I realized long-form investigative writing — and telling a complete, warts-and-all story — is my calling.

In 2018, to refresh my portfolio and work as a journalist after more than a decade away from the field, I enrolled in Santa Rosa Junior College, where I won multiple state writing awards while writing and editing for The Oak Leaf, the student news media organization. I also supported the student newsroom's back-end operation; developed new editing tools and devised a new production workflow; assisted the journalism program's adviser with curriculum; and helped design and launch Oak Leaf Magazine, a full-color glossy magazine. 

I gave birth in early 2019 and have been patching together journalism work ever since. 

I'm fiercely competitive and perform well under pressure. I cheered in college for the University of Maryland Terrapins, which means I'm terribly devoted yet always heartbroken. I keep an eye on the Baltimore Ravens too, because I cheered for them during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 NFL seasons. Those opportunities put me in front of thousands of fans, hundreds of troops on AFE tours, and a gaggle of Swedish middle school cheerleaders. 

I crave a challenge and am willing to endure tedious means to achieve my desired end. I started knitting about 15 years ago and have since knit mittens, hats, capes, sweaters, dog sweaters and two sets of cable-knit smittens — a three-mitten set with the center mitten designed for a couple holding hands. I'm currently volunteering in my daughter's first grade classroom, helping teach two dozen 6-year-olds how to knit.

I'm intense when attempting to solve a problem. Three years ago, my darling dog TR was afflicted with a vile, pestilent, medieval-inspired skin infection. A year of local vets' treatments proved unsatisfactory, so I spent months researching canine skin conditions until I found an obscure research paper describing a rare autoimmune disease that caused his exact symptoms. After a series of visits to a specialty vet hours from home, I secured a positive diagnosis, and the vet's treatment cleared his condition. TR died of unrelated causes in 2024. We still miss him.