My Short Story

You Can't Fit Me into Just One Box

I grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan to a first-generation Greek-American family. At 17 years old, I desired to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts, but outside pressure led me to reconsider. I received my Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Boston University in 2003. In 2004, I enlisted in the United States Air Force, as a Broadcast Journalist, and served active duty for four years where I lived in Japan and New Mexico and served a tour, in Iraq, in 2007. Following the military, I moved to Australia for four years and afterwards briefly returned back to Detroit and began graduate school applications. I matriculated into Emerson College's Master of Fine Arts Film and Media program and moved back to Boston in 2012. That same year, after a five year hiatus from military service, I enlisted in the Massachusetts Air National Guard. While serving, I was state-activated to document the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bomber in Watertown, Massachusetts. In 2014, I took a semester off from grad school to deploy to Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, in Dover, Delaware. My time spent at the mortuary inspired the idea for my MFA animated thesis film, Vernon and Violet, which was completed in April 2017. My professional interests range from production to post-production, but I have a penchant for editing,16mm filmmaking and 2D animation. I currently teach filmmaking and editing at several Boston-area universities which have included Emerson College, Harvard Extension and the University of Massachusetts system. You can also find me conducting animation tests on my Bolex, watercolor painting, sewing quilt blocks, or collaborating on many creative projects. When I'm not teaching or making films and art, I am likely traveling abroad, attending personal development courses (with a focus on sexuality and women's work) or attending leave-no-trace (LNT) events like Burning Man.