Relevant Personal and Professional Experience

I am a Black queer woman who is a first-generation college and graduate school graduate. I come from a long line of working-class survivors and strivers, and am a Yoruba-Lukumi priest. These rich experiences inform how I conduct psychotherapy as well as my writing.

I have worked as a psychotherapist and consulted with various nonprofit organizations as a trainer, curricula developer, and grant writer since 1995. In the earlier stages of my career, I worked in foster care and adoption agencies, and with street-involved and homeless LGBTQ/GNC young adults of color. As a behavioral scientist, I have conducted research with and written about LGBTQI people of color since 1999.

After over a decade in academia, I provide copyediting services to those who want to take their writing to the next level. As for my own writing, I have been writing off and on for over thirty years. I write academic and creative nonfiction and fiction in order to positively impact the lives of others.

Education, Postgraduate Professional Training, Certification, and Licensure

• Education
  • Doctor of Philosophy of Clinical Social Work, New York University, 2003 (psychodynamic psychotherapy focus)
  • Master of Social Work, New York University, 1993
• Relevant Postgraduate Training
  • Certified in Telemental Health, Person Centered Tech
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
    • EMDR Basic Training, EMDR Consulting
    • Recent Traumatic Events Protocol (R-TEP), Humanitarian Assistance Program Traumatic Recovery Network
    • Group Traumatic Events Protocol (G-TEP), Humanitarian Assistance Program Traumatic Recovery Network
  • Gottman Method Couples Therapy
    • Completed Levels 1 & 2 Training
• EMDR Certified Therapist
• New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker, R048439-01

Professional Memberships

• EMDRIA (EMDR International Association)
• World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
• Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)
• Editorial Freelancers Association

Writers’ Fellowships and Residencies

• 2019, Lambda Literary Writer-in-Residence
• 2017, Lambda Literary Fellowship in Nonfiction