I’ve always been a visual storyteller. While other kids merely wrote letters to Santa, I crafted a catalog for him, complete with collages, captions, and shoelaces strung through the margins as binding. As I got older, my love for media — and the piles of magazines in my room — continued to grow. It was an easy decision to pursue a career in publishing, ultimately earning a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Throughout the following decade, my roles at magazines took me around the globe, from red-carpet celebrity reporting in London to reviewing spas and resorts in the South Pacific to testing high-end skincare products in the tiny bathroom of my West Village studio apartment. I worked stints as a senior digital editor at NBC Universal, and freelanced my way through the hallowed halls of Condé Nast. (Yes, the beauty closets were as fabulous as you might imagine.) But most of my journalism career was spent doing two things I loved most — traveling and telling stories.

As a travel magazine writer and editor, I was lucky enough to experience the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of amazing destinations, while reviewing hotels, resorts, and spas around the world. I realized that through hotels, I could explore so many of my interests, including art, architecture, food, design, culture, wellness, and of course, travel. Thanks to these work assignments and trips, my obsession for hotels — and hospitality, in general — grew exponentially.

Sure, ordering room service in a cozy robe is pretty wonderful, but so is discovering the magic that hotels make to set themselves apart and to deliver memorable experiences to their guests. Whether its a signature fragrance that you first experience upon check-in, an indigenous ingredient being used in in-room amenities, or an age-old technique being employed at the spa, hotels have evolved into storytellers themselves and the mission of so many is to deliver a sense of place to guests.

After almost a decade in media in New York City, I craved a change. I moved back to Chicago and decided to channel my love of travel and storytelling in a new way: I took the leap into hospitality marketing. Instead of telling the stories of my own travels, I wanted to sit on the other side of the table, creating stories that deliver memorable experiences for hotels.

What ensued has been career harmony. Thanks to my excitement over the written word, beautiful photography, and a love for details, I’ve had the opportunity to work with world-renowned travel brands, as well as boutique independent brands, to reflag and reposition hotels, expand global brand marketing initiatives, develop visual identities, produce photo and video shoots, create revenue-generating promotions, launch social media accounts, and even name restaurants.

My love for hospitality remains strong, and in a post-COVID world, I’ve expanded the focus of my business to also include branding, content and digital marketing, and project management — along with my mainstays of writing and editing — for a variety of industries, including tech, legal, and retail.