Born and raised in the Lexington area, I entered the New Maps Plus program as a certificate student with a creative arts background in music, writing, and photography with no experience mapping or writing code.

Halfway through the second course (Programming for Web Mapping), I knew I'd found a niche intersection between creativity and tech, and I loved it. Though the initial learning curve was steep, it's entirely possible to succeed without a technical background. Now programming feels like a fun puzzle and has unlocked the freedom to bring ideas to life.

I ended up applying to the M.S. program, which I'll graduate from in May 2023.

As I write this in October 2022, I work full-time in a data journalism fellowship with the Miami Herald/McClatchy D.C. Bureau. I plan to continue working in graphics journalism, making maps and other data visualizations to make complex information accessible to the public.

Check out my portfolio website and my web resume if you'd like, and feel free to email me all of the cool maps you make or find!