About Me

I’m a writer and editor with 15+ years’ experience exploring the intersection of art, design, travel, and business at editorial, trade, and corporate publications in freelance and staff positions.

But more about me, me, me:

I was born in Texas, but I grew up in San Francisco. I moved to New York City in 1996, and notwithstanding a year in Paris (study abroad) and a year in China (teaching English), I’ve lived here ever since.

I graduated from Columbia University with a history degree, with a focus on consumer culture, trying to figure out why people buy what they do. This means I wrote papers on stuff like the semiotics of the J. Crew catalog, the role of the museum gift store, and the development of the supermarket in France.

Besides writing and editing, I’ve also worked as a gift-wrapper for Saks Fifth Avenue;  a middle-school English teacher in China; and at the age of 12, as the co-founder of a summer camp for neighborhood children. In 2009, I appeared as an extra (ahem, sorry, “background performer”) in “Take-Out,” an episode of Law & Order, which brought me five seconds of anonymous fame.

I live in Queens with my husband, Adam Kuban, and our daughter.