About Me

I was raised in Long Beach, California and from my first memories I have been fascinated with language. Initially, I attended Long Beach City College and spent my time in community college juggling responsibilities between the school radio station (KLBC.org) and completing my general education requirements. It was at Long Beach City that I read my first syntax paper and was hooked on linguistics.

I transferred to the University of California at Los Angeles, discovered I was better suited as a phonetician/phonologist, and graduated with a BA in linguistics. I stayed at UCLA for an additional year after becoming a Departmental Scholar and earned an MA in linguistics as well. The supervising committee for my MA was chaired by Kie Zuraw and also included Bruce Hayes & Megha Sundara. During my time at UCLA I worked on projects in both the UCLA Phonetics Lab and the UCLA Speech Processing and Auditory Perception Lab (Click here to see my vocal folds from recordings in this lab).

Aside from linguistics I enjoy making and collecting art. I primarily shoot photography but have created conceptual pieces as well. My work has been shown in the Salvation Army Alegria in Los Angeles, California and the 2nd City Art Gallery in Long Beach, California.