Redefinition Through Adversity — Happiness Through Creativity

Concurrent to being a Creative Writing MFA candidate at Drexel, I am a published novelist and a produced screenwriter who writes character-driven yet propulsively cinematic works of horror and thriller fiction. My debut novel, "Blue Ridge," was released by Level Best Books in January 2024. Before that, I was a working film/TV professional in Los Angeles, where I was nominated for a "Best Screenwriting, Motion Picture" Leo Award for "Wired Shut," which was released in 2021 by 101 Films. Additionally, I won the prestigious Grand Prize of the 2018 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition for "Junior," my darkly comedic thriller script about the true story of the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.

Additionally, I am a freelance developmental editor and publishing consultant. Before founding my own business, Fortiter et Recte Literary, I was the Director of Book Pipeline from 2019–2023, a highly successful author discovery platform. Through three writing contests, I launched up-and-coming authors of fiction and nonfiction into the traditional publishing landscape. I was the sole person responsible for editing winning authors' manuscripts and then crafting bespoke submission packages on their behalf to send to their curated list of literary agents and acquiring editors. More importantly, though, I collaborated with these authors for the long haul, acting as a long-term career coach/advocate who helped them forge long-lasting strategies to excel both creatively and economically in an increasingly difficult-to-navigate publishing landscape.

I aim to meet like-minded people and create a supportive community of writers who are friends, confidantes, and colleagues for years to come.

Also, I helped facilitate winning authors' transition into the film/TV industry, assisting them in securing representation, advising them on how to best pitch their material to development executives, and even guiding them on adapting their manuscripts into screenplays. I was born and raised in Virginia, but now I call Brooklyn home (while still holding the magic of the mountains and Southern living near and dear to my heart). When I'm not writing, editing, or reading, you can find me kickboxing, playing soccer, going on day trips upstate, or roughhousing with my pit bull in Prospect Park.

What I hope to glean from the Drexel Creative Writing MFA program is threefold. Firstly, I want to deepen my skill in the craft and learn from seasoned professors/authors how to best entertain, engage, and enlighten readers through the art of genre fiction. I firmly believe that there is always knowledge to gain and ways to improve as a creative — and I can't wait to add more quills to my quiver, as it were.

Secondly, I wish to learn how to teach creative writing at the undergraduate/graduate level, which requires obtaining an MFA degree. I have been accepted into Drexel's Creative Writing TA program, and I can't wait to begin that!

Finally, I aim to meet like-minded people and create a supportive community of writers who are friends, confidantes, and colleagues for years to come.