I started my career as a public school teacher in New York City then ventured out to teach at international schools in Germany. In 2015, while weaving “sustainability and UN SDGs” into my class curriculum, I discovered a deep interest and curiosity in how cities work and what they do to tackle the effects of climate change. That curiosity followed me out of the classroom and into real estate, where I saw close up how decisions about land, housing, and development decide who gets to live where and how. Being on the front line, I saw consequences play out at different scales, from ski resort mountainsides to individual apartments in cities. In Japan, I watched luxury condos multiply for profit, each drilling for its own onsen water access, each development claiming another stretch of the forests. In New York, I witnessed renters pay more and more for less and less. 

These observations left me with more concerns and questions than answers, and a growing desire to do something about them. So I brought myself back to school - Columbia GSAPP, where I spent the last two years studying urban planning. I wrote my thesis on housing informality in Taipei, Taiwan, researched case studies of cities confronted with various urban challenges, and mapped the socioeconomic variables, vulnerabilities, climate risks that shape them. For my studio, my team and I spent a semester on Ciutat Vella, Barcelona’s oldest district, investigating how a place could be revitalized for its residents without erasing the historic fabric that makes it special. Along the way, I picked up technical skills of the trade such as GIS, data analysis and visualization, land use and zoning frameworks, community engagement, and policy evaluation. 

Teaching taught me to explain complex concepts clearly and to listen before proposing. These are skills that turn out to be crucial for community-based planning. Now, degree in hand and two decdes of experience with a fresh set of tools, I am looking to put them all to work - one project at a time! 

Outside of work, I also love to make things by hand (knit, crochet, weave, paper craft, occasional woodwork), cook, read, hike, cycle, and play tennis. I live in New York City and some of my favorite pastimes are strolling through farmer’s markets and wandering the streets, looking up at buildings I've passed a hundred times and still finding them fascinating. 

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