As a food and features reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, my writing focuses on food and culture in Saint Paul and the greater Twin Cities. I am particularly interested in ways people use food to communicate aspects of their identity and navigate social institutions, and I'm skilled at distilling complex topics into digestible writing.In addition to journalism, I am also active in academic food system research and sociology of taste. I hold a master's degree in food studies from Boston University’s Gastronomy Program and have presented at several national academic conferences. My thesis focused on kids' menus and the construction of childhood taste; further research into presentations of maturity and masculinity in boneless/bone-in chicken wing consumption has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming anthology from University of Arkansas Press.And I can't NOT talk about artisan cheese! I worked as a professional cheesemonger for several years and continue to teach cheese classes regularly in the Twin Cities. At the 2022 Cheesemonger Invitational competition in New York City, I placed third overall and won the one-bite cheese pairing challenge.