About Me

My story

When I was in the 2nd grade, I became a published author. I came home from school one day, took out my crayons, and wrote and illustrated my own story. The next day I came to school and I hid my book in the shelves when I thought the teachers weren’t looking, hidden in between copies of Junie B Jones and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In my 8-year-old mind, that’s what I thought it meant to be an author and I wanted to keep doing it forever. I loved the way that when I read I could be anyone and do anything.

By the time I got to high school, I was well on my way to becoming who I wanted to be. I was published in literary journals and was named Most Likely to Succeed in my high school graduating class. I knew exactly who I was until I didn’t. My senior year, I developed a chronic illness.

When I started college at the University of Texas at Austin, I wasn’t just moving into a new environment. I was managing a disability in a body that I no longer understood. Things that used to be easy for me suddenly were extremely difficult. I didn’t ask for help, because I didn’t want to admit I’d become disabled. I thought I was just weak, because I didn’t “look ill”. 

Today, I’ve learned to embrace my identity as a disabled and neurodivergent writer. 

I am a 2023 Writer’s League of Texas fellow, through which I’m working on a contemporary YA novel about disability and gifted kid burnout. Professionally, I work as a writer and Editorial Associate for Google and YouTube. Most of all, I’m deeply involved in the Disabled community, working closely with organizations such as Disability:IN, Lime Connect, The National Disability Mentoring Coalition and the Squeaky Wheel.