HELLO.
Thanks for visiting. I appreciate you taking the time to learn a little more about me. I’m an urban planner, designer, and filmmaker deeply interested in the urban experience of Los Angeles and ways we can collectively improve our city.
A little background: I began my career as a film editor crafting national advertising campaigns for major brands. Eventually, I felt called to tell deeper stories about real people and began working on long-form, non-fiction projects. In that capacity, I’ve worked on documentary projects featured on Netflix, New York Times, PBS, Paramount Plus, HBO Max, and CNBC. Films I’ve edited have been accepted into Sundance, Tribeca, Boston, Palm Beach, and Minneapolis film festivals and have been nominated for a number of awards including a New & Documentary Emmy.
A few years ago, as I was working on a documentary about data science and I was exposed to the world of urban planning. I became fascinated with the field after reviewing hours of footage from planners, data scientists, and academics about the ways we can mold our urban systems for the better. That experience prompted me to begin taking urban studies classes at the local community college. I’ve always loved cities and the ways they function as complex adaptive systems to influence our lives in subtle and profound ways, but I wanted to understand more formally how we shape the urban fabric through government policy, planning, and advocacy. I am particularly interested in the role the arts and creativity play in building thriving cities. I eventually decided to pursue a graduate degree in the field.
I was accepted into the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California to pursue a Master of Urban Planning degree on a partial scholarship from USC and another from the California Planning Foundation. At USC, I’ve developed an interest in the intersection of planning, design, and media; specifically how we can tell the stories of underserved communities and influence the planning process through storytelling, advocacy, art, cartography, and graphic communication. I work as a research assistant at the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation where I’ve researched and written about various topics including COVID recovery, mental health, climate change, teen literacy, and economic education in coordination with local community organizations. I’ve also worked with the Chinatown Community for Equitable Development and their efforts to fight development and gentrification in Chinatown. Additionally, I was a planning intern with Lisa Wise Consulting this past summer. I will be graduating this spring and hope to leverage my diverse range of skills in the service of a better Los Angeles.