I fell in love with theater and performance when I was in second grade, narrating my class Christmas play. Pursuing that, I earned my BA in Theater from Marquette University in Milwaukee, focusing on acting. I took a required course in Directing and fell in love with that. I went on to earn an MFA Directing for Theater from Northwestern University, where I was literally recruited to take their first ever storytelling class. I fell in love with Storytelling. I decided to never try to earn an official degree in Storytelling because I plan to stay a Storyteller. It took some detours but I found my true love. I’ve taught Storytelling at the university level since 1995. I came to ETSU in 2019 because it is the only university in the country with a storytelling program that includes undergraduate concentrations and minors in storytelling and an MA program that encompasses Storytelling. I stay because it is the one university where I can teach storytelling at a level of depth that I’m allowed to do here and because I cherish teaching the art form I love to students that surprise and delight me every day. I serve as the Storytelling Program Director guiding both the course offerings and extracurricular events that nurture our students’ growth.