I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised at the foothills of Stone Mountain, Georgia— a place where, for me,  southern charm met imagination. By the age of ten, I was building miniature amusement parks out of cardboard and construction paper in my parents’ basement, long before I knew what an architect was. Theme parks fascinated me — their colors, sounds, and stories — and that wonder became the foundation of how I see the world: as something magical, narrated and full of wonder.

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My restless, magpie mind couldn’t sit still for long. In middle school, I began writing short stories for friends. They were rough, clumsy little things — but through them, I discovered the power of words, character, and the way narrative could change how people think and feel. It was the beginning of an obsession that’s still burning.