Bio

Raised in the 'burbs of the GTA, I spent a good chunk of my adult life commuting downtown for school and work. Now that I live in Simcoe county, I'll have moments where I yearn for the city, but a quick walk by the water makes me forget it all. Life up here with my partner, cat, and dog isn't bad at all.

Unlike Liam Neeson and his "very particular set of skills...that make [him] a nightmare for people...", my skills are more widely varied—and much more benign (for better or worse).

Experience

- Writing: My experience as a writer dates back to an early age. I know this doesn't count in the professional world, but I had always excelled at writing essays and all of the research that accompanies that. I then translated that strength into teaching non-native English speakers how to write essays, after which I found myself getting into proposal and grant writing. More recently, I've started writing web content in the tech industry.

- Teaching: Most of my professional career has been spent as an ESL/EAP instructor in both private institutions and college. I had always dreamed of teaching abroad, but teaching in Toronto has been an incredible experience. Not only did I get the opportunity to be exposed to a multitude of different cultures and make new friends from around the world, but I also have the satisfaction of knowing that I helped hundreds of students get into Canadian colleges and universities.

- Filmmaking: To this day, I still don't really know what constitutes a filmmaker. Is there a threshold for working on films at which you gain that status, or is it more of a mindset? Regardless, I had some wonderful experiences going to film school, where I got to work on a ton of different projects, and I also got to work in the "industry" in different capacities. That being said, I'm equally comfortable on-set as I am in a production office.

- Web development: While I haven't yet worked as a web developer professionally, I attended a full-stack web development bootcamp, where I got the chance to work on team projects, build a portfolio, and learn about the inner workings of the tech industry. Admittedly, this is an area where I'd like to gain more experience, but needless to say, I'm fairly comfortable working with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and even Ruby to a lesser extent.

Interests

Reading 📚 | Writing ✍ | Journaling 🖋️ | Board games 🎲 | Video games 🎮 | Dungeons & Dragons 🗡️ | Music 🎧 | Vinyl collecting 🎵 | Muay Thai 🥊 | Film 🎥 | Photography 📷 | Psychology 🧠 | Meditation 🧘 | Mindfulness 💭 | Productivity 💡