I am a communications specialist originally from Atlanta, Georgia, making my home in Chicago, Illinois.
Communications
Through 2009-10, I took the reins as communications consultant with Chicago Metropolis 2020 for the region-wide Burnham Plan Centennial. Currently I’m applying my journalistic skills to the realm of arts and initiative promotion. Earlier this year I took a producers intensive at the Goodman Theatre and subsequently secured a gig as a theater publicist working under PR guru Cathy Taylor. As the freelance publicist for the award-winning documentary Tony and Janina’s American Wedding (Ruthless Films), I booked the filmmaker for programs on National Public Radio and PBS.
Media
My most recent editorial tenure was as Managing Editor for the Playboy Entertainment Group, managing the day-to-day operation of Playboy.com, and Contributing Editor to Playboy magazine. In these capacities I worked personally with founder Hugh Hefner to create his personal autobiographical website. Before relocating to Chicago, I was the Arts & Entertainment Editor for Atlanta’s alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing, which now owns the Chicago Reader. Concurrent with CL, I was an entertainment correspondent for seven years on The Morning X, Billboard‘s top-rated morning show on 99X, WNNX, Atlanta. As a writer, I’ve contributed to Playboy, People, Out, The Advocate, ETC, Atlanta magazine, Chicago Social, the Chicago Reader and Time Out.
Film
A major in Film Production/Film Theory & Criticism from Penn State University, I have worked in film production in various capacities, including the key set on indie feature In the Flesh, a P.A. on the Hollywood features Black Dog (Univeral Pictures) and Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory (Walt Disney Pictures), music videos for So So Def (Columbia Records) and national spots for Coca-Cola. Through this experience I got hired as a production coordinator for the VH1 Honors concert at Universal Amphitheater.
Personal
To flex my creative writing muscle, I have spent the last year with The Second City Training Center where I staged an ensemble sketch revue (February-April 2010) at The Second City. As a member of the sketch ensemble Sketch & Sniff, I have co-written three shows at Gorilla Tango, Studio Be and the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts.
A voracious foodie and cook, I take great pleasure in bringing spicy soul food and Cajun cooking to my sensitively palated colleagues in the Midwest. My home smells of coconut milk and peanut sauce as Julie and Julia-style I wok my way through the 500-page Ultimate Thai and Asian Cookbook.
I like to get my heart rate up with a self-invented adrenaline aerobics regimen. For my novel Sports Model, presently under construction, I am reliving my childhood as a Cub Scout and Indian Guide by spelunking, skydiving, bungee jumping and riding roller coasters with the lap bar as loose as I can get away with. Next up: Camping among the ‘gators and wild boars in Okefenokee Swamp.