ABOUT ME
Short Version
I’m a first-generation American, daughter of Argentine immigrants who only spoke Spanish at home. I learned English through immersion and copious viewings of “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” episodes. By the end of third grade, I was one of two students in our advanced reading courses.
Once I started reading stories, I couldn’t stop.
After learning English as my second language, I became obsessed with literary journalism and poetry. I wrote articles that won such awards as a Hearst Journalism Award, a Latino Journalists of California scholarship, Chicano News Media Association grant, and more.
When I won the prestigious Chips Quinn Scholar for Diversity in Journalism scholarship from The Freedom Forum, I met the brilliant late Richard “Dick” Thien. He was the founder of USA Today and winner of myriad national editing awards. Plus, he became my mentor and life-changing guide to the world of wordsmithing. (He’d find that last sentence over the top. But I mean it.)
My post-university career is saturated in stories: newspaper columnist, newspaper reporter, proofreader, editorial assistant, editor, content writer, senior content writer, freelance writer, editorial project manager, and managing editor in education and tech.
My articles and essays have been published in major online publications, magazines, and literary journals.
Right now, I juggle being the head of content and managing editor for Agorapulse, a social media management SaaS company based in Paris, France. Across four countries and six time zones, my creative team is comprised of editorial, graphic design, and video production in English-, French, and German-speaking regions.
Longer Version
I’m the first-generation American, daughter of Argentine immigrants who primarily spoke Spanish at home. I learned English through immersion and copious viewings of “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” episodes. By the end of third grade, I was one of two students in our advanced reading courses.
Once I started reading stories, I couldn’t stop. I spent all of high school reading everything that our school librarian, a lively wordsmith hailing from France, recommended. Which meant all the classics. And modern books. And screenplays. And poetry.
For fun and my own edification, I used the recommended high school reading curriculum from a literary council and read all the books for the next four years. Hardy, Wharton, Dickens, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Yeats, Hemingway, Garcia Marquez, Shakespeare, Keats, Sandburg, Hinton, Austen, etc.
I bookwormed myself into a well-read, slightly snobbish high school graduate.
By junior college, I opted for the only major that let me read a lot, write a lot, and roam around: journalism. I could wander the campus and streets, be inquisitive, follow a juicy story, and capture it all in words.
Journalism + marketing
I also had a weekly column for the award-winning The Western Sun college newspaper about being a first-generation American. I also wrote about community news, Latino issues, fine arts, music, and film.
Mostly, I learned that writing is a strict discipline. Don’t wait for inspiration. Get it done.And learn to edit, chica.
I also published my first and only poetry chapbook in collaboration with designer friends. (If you were in Orange County during the mid-1990s, you may have heard me awkwardly read from this little book in an obscure coffeeshop.) Some poems made it into literary presses like Spring Harvest Poetry Anthology, Voices, and Vox Cultura.
Later, at the California State University, Fullerton, I discovered literary journalism, which spoke to my heart. I worked at the university paper, The Daily Titan; wrote about current issues; and had a weekly column about the first-generation American experience.
My writing led to my winning grants and scholarships, including a Hearst Journalism Award and a Latino Journalists of California scholarship.
In my last year of college, I won the prestigious Chips Quinn scholarship from The Freedom Forum, which included training workshops, mentorship experiences, and an intense 12-week summer internship.
As a Chips Quinn Scholar for Diversity in Journalism, I interned at The Tennessean newspaper covering general news and learned about the police beat in Nashville. My articles about a shooting and subsequent trial landed on the front-page several times. I learned how to listen well, sift through enormous amounts of dirt, filter out the gold, and how to ask questions in a dozen different ways.
I also was under the tutelage of the late brilliant, tough, and passionate Richard “Dick” Thien, founding editor of USA Today and multiple winner of the Associated Press’s best editor award. He shaped my thinking, writing, and editing, and forever left his imprint on me.
My journalism degree has been pivotal in my career beyond news.
That love of listening to people, reading stories, writing, and editing has led to a solid career in wordsmithing.
In time, Ann Handley, best-selling author of “Everybody Writes,” hired me for a non-journalist position at her company because I had a journalism degree: “You know how to find stories worth writing about—and how to write them well.”
I have a career saturated in wordsmithing: editorial assistant, editor, content writer, senior content writer, freelance writer, editorial project manager, and managing editor.
Today, I am head of Content at Agorapulse, a social media management SaaS company based in Paris, France. I do all things strategic and editorial, and run a talented team of savvy writers, videographers, and graphic designers across four countries and six time zones.