Relevant Personal and Professional Experience

I am a slightly African, very American queer woman who is a first-generation college and graduate school graduate. I come from a long line of working-class survivors and intrepid women and am inspired by my ancestors. In addition, I am an initiated Yoruba-Lukumi priest of Ogun and a spiritist. These rich experiences inform how I conduct psychotherapy and case consultation, as well as my scholarly and creative writing.

I have worked as a psychotherapist and consulted with various nonprofit and governmental organizations as a trainer, curricula developer, grant writer, and organizational consultant since 1995. In the earlier stages of my career, I worked in foster care and adoption agencies, in the NYC Department of Education, and with street-involved and homeless adolescents and LGBTQ/GNC young adults of color. As a behavioral scientist and scholar, I have taught about, conducted research with, and written about LGBTQI people of color since 2004.

As for my creative writing, I have been writing off and on for over 30 years. I began writing fiction and creative nonfiction in my 20s as a way to make sense of the world, and shifted to academic nonfiction when I was a college professor. In 2016, Spirit whispered that I needed to return to creative writing. Aware of the importance of listening to one’s inner voice, I returned to that path with the intention of writing creative nonfiction that positively impacts the lives of others.

Education, Postgraduate Professional Training, 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
  • 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
• New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker (since 1993)

Memberships

• EMDRIA (EMDR International Association)
• GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing Equity
• Humanitarian Assistance Program Traumatic Recovery Network (HAP TRN), New York City Chapter (provides pro bono services to disaster and trauma survivors)
• World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)

Writers’ Fellowships and Residencies

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