About Me

Audiobooks are a way of life for me. Before I started narrating, storytelling was built into every part of my world. So I'll tell you my story.

The colorful coastal city of Salvador, Brazil is where I was born. My parents grew up next door to each other, and eventually they brought their two kids to Seattle, Washington. I was just three, but in time, Barney taught me English and we'd grow into kids who rode our bikes in packs through the suburbs, into a family that loved camping and museums, into all the little complexities that people carry with them.

I loved writing and spent much of middle school walking around with a flashdrive carrying all the stories I'd been working on. But in 8th grade, a long-term substitute taught me to love poetry. Storytelling was orginally utilitarian for me, it was how I made meaning of the world, how I explained myself to others. Through poetry, words became the way I journied. I fell in love with possibility, and with connection, and with seeing other people's truths. In a few years I'd read my first favorite novel (The First Bad Man by Miranda July), I'd look back on my love of films as a love of storytelling, and I'd realize that I needed a fresh start. So I dropped out of high school and moved across the country.

That's how I ended up in the Berkshires at 16 years old, starting college at Simon's Rock. We read, we wrote, we talked, we slept. I found my own voice, not just as a writer but as a person in the world. In time, I'd write my senior thesis on queer identity development and get dropped out into adult life unsure about what I wanted, but certain that I was tired. That exhaustion included reading. I was devouring movies and music and podcasts, but I couldn't sit down to read to save my life.

A dear friend recommended The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, and even though I was drawn in by her praise of the book, I knew I wouldn't make it through. So I tried the audiobook. The click was instant. Within six months I'd listened to dozens of titles, fallen in love with books again, and stumbled upon audiobook narration as an artistic endeavor. It would only take another year, narrating my first couple books, and a shift in what I realized I needed to make a satisfying adult life before I propelled myself into narration and other voice acting as a career.

Now here I am! There have been accolades along the way (Audie-nominated, multi-Earphone winning, SOVAS winner, Best of Audible, Best of Audiofile, YALSA Top Ten Audiobooks, One Voice nominated, etc). I have to admit that kind of attention absolutely feels great, and I hope my work keeps connecting with people in those ways. But nothing compares to crying in the studio while narrating Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez. Nothing compares to the momentous feeling of spiraling alongside Daniel's anger and loss in Tropicália by Harold Rogers. Nothing compares to channeling Laurence Ralph's words in Sito and feeling in my bones that yes, this is the story my heart needed to hear, needed to tell.

For me, audiobooks are a transcript of a living story that I try to see and feel and live when I narrate. Every text has a voice and if I'm cast, I'm going to search for that sound. I believe in embodied performances that blur the lines between audiobook and movie, and work with the text to bring the unique truth of each book alive and aloud for listeners.

I also dream of how this work can transform others. I happily serve as a board member of the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association, where I lead the Diversity Equity and Inclusion team to bring their vision for our community to life. I have proudly been a mentor for years in the Audio Publishers Association DEI Mentorship program. You'll find that I'm not only a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, but believe in labor rights across the industry and beyond and know that together, the incredible talents and caring minds who make this industry possible can carve out a future that cares for the art of narration as much as it cares for the people who make it possible.