I’m a writer, editor and translator; an avid traveller, history buff and art lover; a proud European-by-choice.
I grew up in Vancouver, Canada, in a perfect landscape of sea and mountains, forests and skyscrapers. But as much as I loved Canada, it was Europe that captured my heart and mind.
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Academic and Professional Background
As an undergraduate, I completed a double major in Political Science and Economics at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, as well as a Certificate in Social Sciences and Humanities from Sciences Po in Paris, France. I then went on to earn a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany.
In 2019, I returned to the Hertie School to work as the personal Research Associate to then-President Henrik Enderlein up until his untimely death from cancer in 2021. Losing him as a friend and mentor was an enormous blow. Nevertheless, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity, no matter how short, to work so closely with such an intelligent and inspiring man.
Over the years that I have spent working in policy and research, I gathered broad and varied experience in government, academia, and private-sector consulting.
Before leaving Canada, I worked as a fiscal policy analyst focusing on treaty negotiation and Aboriginal self-governance in the Canadian federal government, and then in financial regulation policy at the British Columbia Ministry of Finance. As a student at the University of Victoria, I worked as a research and teaching assistant in various roles, including in the Centre for Global Studies, the European Studies Programme, the third-party Borders in Globalization project, the Department of Political Science and the Department of Economics.
After moving to Germany, I worked as a research assistant in the Global Governance unit of the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialfoschung (WZB Berlin Social Science Centre), and then spent nearly three years at Civic Consulting, where I worked as a junior consultant doing economic analysis and programme evaluation for the European Commission, especially in consumer policy, public health and trade policy.
Travel, History, Art
I am a passionate traveler and spend as much time as I can get on the road. But I don’t just keep this hobby to myself – I am one of the longest-serving (unpaid) moderators of Reddit’s r/solotravel, one of the internet’s busiest travel forums with more than 2.1 million registered users. I am the main author of the r/solotravel wiki, which provides extensive advice for new travelers, and am active on the subreddit every day to moderate posts, give advice, and manage the community with my fellow mods. I am also a regular contributor on Atlas Obscura!
There is nothing I love nothing more than roaming around interesting corners of Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe. My travels often make it into my blog when they intersect with interesting bits of history or art, but you can also follow my travels in real-time on Instagram, where I aim to highlight the best off-the-beaten-track sights that Central and Eastern Europe has to offer.
I also regularly update a custom Google Map of my travels, which you can see below.
The Goodest Boy
Akai was found abandoned as a puppy in the High Tatras mountain range in eastern Slovakia. He was brought to a dog shelter in the nearby town of Kežmarok, where I fell in love with him immediately and brought him to live with me in Berlin. He is two years old and can sit, lie down, shake hands and (sometimes) catch treats in his mouth. He loves going on road trips with his mummy, tearing apart pizza boxes and chasing birds.