ABOUT ME

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There are some truths in this world which I would like to share with you:

• No masterpiece was created in a day.

• It is never too late for second chances. 

• Adaptability will be one of your greatest strengths. 

• Writing is not easy, is can be scary, and yet, it can also be one of the most rewarding endeavors you encounter!

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My goal while teaching Writing and Rhetoric is simple. Communication is the most powerful tool we have available to us and every encounter is an opportunity to refine this skill. The path may not always be clear, but the goal is in focus. Together we shall become eternal students and engage in the lifelong pursuit of rhetorical greatness. 

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I used to be a painter. I used to spend hours moving around paint on a canvas and finding new ways to engage my viewer. Now I paint with words. I move around a never-ending string of words on a digital screen that has no end. 

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How did I get here? 

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How did being sent 100 feet up in the air to rescue an Osprey caught in fishing line in the top of a Norfolk Pine help me become a well-grounded victim advocate? How would founding a 501c3 non-profit animal rescue lead me to a supervisory level job in a county agency, running manufacturing efficiency analyses?

 

My heart is neither still nor silent, I lack an affinity for inefficiency, and I crave a challenge. I was raised in Chile, lived in Venezuela, South Korea and eventually graduated from high school in Boston. I earned an undergraduate degree in Art and Art History at Barnard College, Columbia University in 2004 and with a worldly mind, a car and my dog, I set out to couch surf my way south as the fall grew colder. By winter, I planted my roots in Miami sand and have never looked back.

 

After running an art gallery, founding a non-profit, and working as a middle manager for Miami Dade County, I grew eager to develop my skills in new ways and explore the world of academia once again. In 2014 I earned my MBA from FIU and I am completing a Masters in Veterinary Forensic Science at UF. During this time, I have volunteered in several facets of advocacy for at risk populations in South Florida.

 

In the Fall of 2016, I returned to FIU as a PhD student in Global and Sociocultural Studies. My goal is to further my understanding of how to organize massive amounts of data, woven with the richness and brutality of personal experience, into research that may further increase the well-being of under-represented populations in our community. My research focuses on the intersection between the residents of Miami Dade County and the agencies which provide public services, and how residential segregation affects the experiences on the provider and resident levels. 

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I am honored to share my first two years as an instructor of Writing and Rhetoric and I look forward to welcoming my first group of students in the Spring of 2017. I invite each of my students to join me on this journey. We will share stories and learn from each other at every turn. Together we will build our communicative toolboxes and push out boundaries to new hieghts.

 

May we never find the limits to our voices.