About

Retired cartoon character. Writer. Reader. Daydreamer. Angry feminist. Spinal surgery survivor. Helicopter dog mom. Heartburn haver. Still way too into Friends.

I used to work for the world's most famous mouse. When I was about 5 years old, I confidently stated that I wanted to be a dancer at Walt Disney World when I grew up, and about 19 years later, I relocated to Orlando because I was offered said dream job. This magic is not lost on me. If only everyone were so lucky to get to live the wildest dreams of their 5-year-old selves'. The world would be a much cooler place, with many more astronauts, ballerinas, and in the case of my nephew, Monster Truck Drivers.

Turns out, you can get your dream job twice. In the summer of 2024, I was visiting Collingswood, NJ with my cousin, as one is wont to do when in South Jersey because Collingswood is a delight. We, quite by happenstance, stumbled upon a storefront that said "Kiss & Tale: A Romance Bookshop coming soon." After hyperventilating for a few moments, I realized the Universe had put me right where I was meant to be. I had been unsuccessfully job hunting at the time, and this just felt like kismet.

So, after some internet sleuthing (difficult to do without social media, I realized,) I emailed the owner and started my email with a professional "here's my resume and cover letter," but then continued the way they definitely taught us not to growing up. I spilled my guts. I explained why I was emailing, why this was my dream job, why You've Got Mail is my favorite movie, why I'd be a great fit, and why I was so excited about this store opening. Lo and behold, I got the job.

The lesson here is that yes, being professional is often important, but so are the vibes. Read the room - sometimes it pays to have absolutely no chill.

Come check us out. We're NJ's first romance bookshop and it's pretty much the cutest store in the world.

As you can imagine, I read a lot. My goal is usually 52 books a year, and I usually way overshoot it by December thanks to my unquenchable thirst for cozy Christmas romance novels. I also write. For a while, I was keeping up with my Substack newsletter, Tropes & Cheese, where I would recommend a cheesy romance novel, offer a general overview and suggest ways to make your reading more immersive and fun. I've let it sit idle for a while for a handful of reasons. Mostly, it started to get in the way of the enjoyment I got from reading. I felt like I had to consistently take notes rather than just enjoy a book. Also, I started branching out and reading across more genres, leaving less time for swoony romance novels. Although they are still my favorite... I do work in a romance bookshop, after all.

I began copywriting a few years ago, and while I made a decent career out of it, I realized my real love of writing wasn't being harnessed in the marketing world. Instead, I write freelance non-fiction for various publications, and even have a book or two in the works, currently hiding in my Google Drive somewhere. 

One of the books I have in the works is about menstruation, fueled by the rage I felt when I realized I was 37 and hadn't learned much about my own biology since what passed for sex ed in a Catholic school in the early 2000s. (It was called "Reverence For Life" if that gives you any indication.) It brought me down a rabbit hole filled with medical journals, feminist memoirs, online forums, and so many books about the female anatomy that I'm beginning to wonder if I should just go back to school for gynecology. In the meantime, here I am, working on a book that will hopefully give menstruators everywhere a little more insight than they may have gotten in their youth.

In 2022 I gave up social media, cold turkey. I had been a social media devotee since the Live Journal and MySpace days, and was an early adopter of pretty much every platform since. However, I gradually evolved from, "This is great! I can communicate with anyone in the world so quickly!" to, "Being this connected to anyone in the world is not great for my mental health." There are definitely aspects of it I miss, and who knows, maybe one day I'll go back to it, but for now, it's a hard pass for me.

I had to retire from my dance career at 29 thanks to a long suffering back injury, and by 33 I had major surgery on my spine. I'm feeling good now, and even take a few drop-in ballet classes now and then, but I miss my first love more than I can say. Being forced to give up your dream before you were ready really sucks. And if it's something you've dealt with, I'm so sorry.

I have two dogs, and I'm obsessed with them. Tobin is named after a wine we like, and Astro is named after... astronauts as a whole, I guess. We like space.

And yeah. Still way too into Friends. No shame.

I may not know who the newest Bachelor is, or what exactly Love Island is about, but you can quiz me on anything Friends related and I'll nail it. Not sure if that's any better, but I am who I am.