Growing up in Atlanta, I attended the Westminster Schools, where I debated, played the trombone, and won awards in English, math, German, and musicianship. I went to Princeton to study physics but graduated with degrees in German and music, winning the Class of 1860 Prize for Old English and Best Junior Paper in the German Department. I received my PhD in English/Medieval Studies with honors from Vanderbilt and earned two conference prizes for best paper by a graduate student.

I was promoted to Full Professor of English and German at Northwestern College, where I co-chaired the English Department and directed the honors program, general education, and assessment. In 2020, I completed the accounting major at Northwestern and was recruited to teach in the business department.

Outside of academia, I served as marketing director for Hermosa Cove, a Caribbean villa resort, and founded Two Giraffes Vanworks, a hand-tool studio that creates luxury mobile apartments in Sprinter vans.

In 2021, I launched Man Standing on Two Giraffes. Since then, I’ve honed over 2,000 executive communications for corporations, hedge funds, and private equity firms in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia.

I live at my workshop in Iowa with my Cavalier spaniel Lady. We enjoy long hikes and black-and-white photography trips to the Colorado Plateau.