Most of my experience is in service journalism and in writing about the intersection between money and life. For example, I've written numerous consumer education pieces and columns about credit, banking and consumer protection.

As a writer with ADHD, I am also deeply interested in mental health and wellness, brain research and neurodiversity and am currently working on a personal project about living and working with ADHD, anxiety and migraines.

In addition, my favorite articles to report and write are meatier pieces that dig more deeply into important domestic issues, such as the consumer financial landscape in the United States, and help readers navigate confusing or treacherous waters.

I’m currently based in Toronto, Ontario. However, I’m originally from South Texas and have previously lived and worked in Orange County, California; Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; New York City and Washington, D.C.

Also worth noting since you're still here (longish thread/plug ahead):

One of my favorite places that I have lived and worked will always and forever be the under-appreciated city of Columbus. It also happens to be where my son, Emmett, was born and so is extra special to me. If you've never ventured to Columbus, or to Ohio, check it out!

Columbus has received some much-deserved attention from well-known national journalists such as Deborah and James Fallows and the many journalists on social media who visited Columbus for the first time during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (In 2015, the city also got some limited attention when it peppered big city transit with a life in CBus campaign targeting millennials.) However, it deserves much more.

It is home to some of the loveliest and most unique and walkable neighborhoods I've found anywhere, a ton of interesting and nicely curated shops and restaurants, lots of history and beautiful old homes, some of the best, most creative ice cream I have ever encountered, a vibrant performing arts scene, a world class university that once employed my talented husband and educated my dearest friend from Sarah Lawrence College, an excellent library, a fantastic arts and culture center, an impressive zoo, an imaginative and well-run science and industry museum, a very good art museum and numerous galleries, tons of street art, some very cool and nicely curated independent theatres, lots of music halls and playhouses and a ton of other great places to sit and watch a live event in non-pandemic times.

Among the most memorable events we attended while living in Columbus, for example:

* A screening of the film, "Boyhood" with the creative and groundbreaking director, Richard Linklater

* An incisive lecture on race, writing and culture by the novelist and my favorite essayist, Zadie Smith

* A fascinating and accessible public lecture on the Hubble Space Telescope by the astrophysicist, Julianne Dalcanton

* A fun-even-though-I'm-not-a-hockey-person game at Nationwide Arena with my husband's hometown team, the Edmonton Oilers

* A beautiful and rollicking bluegrass concert by the Punch Brothers

* A Pixies concert (!!!) and

* A memorably hilarious improv set by a visiting troupe from Chicago's Second City.

Growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley (before they grew to their current sizes), I was convinced that you needed to live in an enormously expensive megacity such as New York City or Los Angeles to regularly experience those kinds of things.

I was glad to learn once I reached adulthood and left Washington, D.C. and New York (where I went to college and briefly lived as a recent grad), that I was wrong. (Austin is also wonderful for that, but it's no longer as affordable.)

Columbus is also a great place for readers and writers. Its newspaper is still strong (though not as diverse as it should be) with good public service journalism and well-written arts coverage. (It has also previously published some of the best consumer protection reporting around.) And some fantastic multi-genre writers, humorists, memoirists, poets, novelists and short story writers live in Columbus, too. (This very funny LitHub piece by Annie McGreevy does a wonderful job explaining why it's such an ideal home for writers.)

Also, unlike most of my favorite cities, including my current beloved home, Toronto, it's affordable! So … if you're looking for a place to move or visit, give it some love?