When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do? I suspect that you reject that tempting inclination to return to your bird-winged, dragon-tailed flight through slumbertown, in favor of your default morning routine. For a storyteller, even moments as mundane as these have the potential to elicit empathy because our quirks shine when we’re on autopilot. For instance, if you’re watching someone get ready in the morning, do you notice their crotchety demeanor, the way they linger in bed for exactly 6 minutes before getting up, the recently-ironed suit on their desk, or the funny look they're giving you? What you notice informs how you relate to them, and that shapes how you experience their story. My job as an editor is to tell you which personality quirks are most important, to establish personal connections that will reward your experience later on. I first manifested this sense of empathy in my documentary, “The Golden Gait Mercantile: Preserving the Nostalgia of America’s Past,” by drawing attention to the connection between the mercantile’s former and current owners. Specifically, I juxtaposed their experiences against each-other in a way that simultaneously establishes practical and emotional context for their story, through their endearing exposition. This exposition is the story of their lives, after all.Ever since my first cathartic cinematic experience, I have grown from a kid drawing anime-eyed cartoon characters to a professional with experience editing award-winning narrative films (Leo's Potatoes), documentary films (26 Seconds), and branded content (The New Swan Shakespeare Center: Unifying Scholarship and Performance) by a variety of directors with diverse tastes and objectives. I have developed content which brings marketable ideas to life through creatively expressed, empathetically considered narrative works which ground themselves in the quirky imperfections that make us who we are. Links to my video work are listed under “Projects” down below.