Hey there! I’m CJ … writer, editor, photographer and perpetual wanderer. After spending several years focused on environmental journalism — because it felt more important than my personal stories — I’ve found my way back to the writing I love best: creative nonfiction.

I’m currently working on a memoir, which chronicles my search for the truth about my maternal grandmother’s struggle with mental illness. I hope that by sharing my family’s stories, I can help others in some small way.

My personal essays and journalism have appeared in HuffPost, The Guardian, GreenBiz, Mongabay, National Geographic, The Forge Literary Magazine, Southeast Review and many others. I should also mention the writing MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, because that sort of thing does impress some folks.

I’m also neurodivergent — spent the first 50 years of my life with a wicked case of undiagnosed ADHD and did a lot of wandering, trying to find a place where I fit. Now I wander in good way, exploring this magnificent planet with my camera. Mostly, though, I’m in my beloved Brooklyn, where I live with my two favorite people, my husband and daughter.