Hello,

I am a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived there most of my life until moving to Charleston, South Carolina for half a year, and then to Hokkaido's Rebun island for two years. Currently, I live in Tokyo and hope to spend a great deal of time here.

During my years in Pittsburgh, I studied Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University and did research on organometallic chemistry, while enjoying various club activities, like ice hockey, film club, ballroom dancing and others. Also, I spent one semester abroad in Tokyo, which would affect my career choices later on.

After graduation, I worked as a laboratory technician for a waste water testing lab before going to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh and doing research on electron transfer dynamics. But I dropped out before completing a Master's degree, and became a test prep (SAT, GRE, MCAT) tutor for the Princeton Review. On the side, I began studying languages (Russian, ancient Hebrew, ancient Greek, Japanese) more intensely.

I decided to go back to Japan with the JET Program and was offered an English teaching position (ALT) on the island of Rebun in Hokkaido. I was the first ALT to live on the island of Rebun, as previous ALTs traveled there by boat once or twice a month for lessons. I spent two wonderful years there before motorcycling down to Tokyo to start another adventure.

Traveling has been almost as steady a hobby for me as languages since college, and I have been to China, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, as well as 30 of Japan's 47 prefectures, and 26 of the 50 United States. I usually spend a fair amount of time studying the local language before travel, too.

In addition to freelance translation and English instruction, I am somewhat active in the entertainment industry in Tokyo and have some experience interpreting between directors and foreign actors or offering English advice to Japanese actors.

Although I've studied Spanish, German, Russian, Korean, Chinese in addition to Japanese, I currently can only translate to and from Japanese. I'd like to work more on Korean, and have taken the KLAT and Hangul Test in Japan (ハングル検定.) Other hobbies include drawing, music, and watching TV.

If you'd be interested in working with me or just chatting, feel free to contact me.
Thank you for reading about me!