A little bit about myself!
I was born in Ottawa, Canada, and attended the University of Toronto for a degree in History and Italian Literature.
In 2013 I moved to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I began travelling, teaching English, and writing. I focused mostly on journaling, poetry, and spoken word. I also hosted spoken word nights for other local expats.
In 2016, I moved up to Guangzhou, China, where I continued with teaching, but also began writing my first novel.
Like a Lotus was written in 2018, and published a couple of years later.
I then moved to Santiago, Chile, where I began my next novel, Dolls for my Daughter. I also met my fiance, Tom, and together we moved back to Canada during COVID, and currently live in Calgary, Alberta with our two children.
I continue writing and being a full-time mom <3
Cambodia, a time of growth and change.
I originally moved to Siem Reap for one year for that exciting ‘I’m not ready to settle down and get a job’ break after Uni, but that ended up becoming 3.5 years… oops. I fell in love with the culture, people, experiences, and the amazing lessons learned. I was young and in my crazy early-20s era during my time there, and with my days being full of adventure, excitement, and wonderful friends, it was the perfect place to really grow into adulthood.
I was so inspired by everything I saw and lived, I had to journal every day. Those journals eventually became my first novel, Like a Lotus.
Cambodia started my journey of writing, travelling, and wanting to experience everything life has to offer.
“That’s why I love Lotuses so much.
The lotus flower is a sacred flower in Cambodia. And not just because you can see them growing everywhere.
Lotuses grow in muddy water, standing tall, where they bloom into large flowers of pinks and whites. In Buddhism, the lotus flower represents fortune and self-regeneration: rising and blooming above the darkness to achieve enlightenment.
That is exactly what Cambodian people are.
I found it extremely inspiring and befitting to get a lotus tattoo while I was living in Siem Reap; that’s just how Cambodia made me feel.
Like a lotus.”
— Like a Lotus
Chile and COVID, a brand new chapter.
From 2016-2018 I was a teacher in Guangzhou, China, trying to focus on saving money and gaining work experience (but mostly travelling of course), and then I moved to South America for a brand new adventure!
I found myself in Santiago, Chile, and immediately fell into comfortable solitude. I worked quite a lot teaching English, but I spent most of my time in my one bedroom apartment with a stunning view of the Andes, travelling around Chile as I learned about this brand new culture, and spending time reading while enjoying a glass of tasty Chilean red.
Everything changed course when I met Tom, someone who I never expected to meet in a foreign city so far from home. Another expat living in Santiago, Tom was everything I never thought I would find in a partner; he was kind, adventurous, exciting, intelligent, and inspirational. I thought we would live in Santiago together for a while before continuing our lives somewhere else, new and wild.
But then March 2020 happened, and everything unravelled once again. I spent so much time locked down in my apartment, that I finally decided to begin a book I had always wanted to write, the story of my great grandmother, Dolls for my Daughter. I spent months at my keyboard getting those pages written, before eventually flying back to Canada to be with Tom and begin our lives post-pandemic. We spent over a year road-tripping across the Great White North before finally buying our first home and having our first baby.
That seismic shift brought my life from solitary travel and adventure, to love, family, and writing full time.. and I couldn’t be enjoying this chapter more!