I have a passion for examining the natural world and human history—and sharing what I find with others. I’m well versed in archaeology, human origins, traditional cultures, wildlife, trees, oceans, conservation, and biology more generally. For kicks, I love reading primary sources of history and running 4-10 miles, preferably around sunrise.

I began my career at America Online and learned a lot about the way the digital world worked in the late ‘90s and the way it would grow and change in the coming decades. Eager to put the skills I’d developed to use for the things I cared about most, I joined National Geographic as home page editor in 2006.

Over 11 years at the Society, I worked in various ways to share the stories of explorers and grantees online, writing and editing hundreds of blog posts on all topics in science, culture, and conservation, pioneering live interviews from the field using Google Hangouts and Facebook Live, and winning a People’s Voice Webby Award for best home page in 2007. During the breakout year of the Society’s Facebook page, from 2010-2011, I helped expand the audience from 400,000 to 4.6 million, setting in motion the growth that continues today.

I also produced content live in the field with paleoanthropologist Lee Berger during the discovery of Homo naledi, with ocean conservationist Enric Sala in the Pitcairn Islands, and with explorer Mike Fay on a 70-mile trek through the Sonoran Desert.

I then joined the conservation nonprofit Adventure Scientists as Director of Communications, building project sites, managing social media, recruiting adventurous volunteer data collectors, and coordinating external media coverage from PBS, the BBC, and others.

My own scientific education includes study at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a degree in anthropology with a focus on archaeology from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.