I’m an Australian freelance writer and editor based in Berlin.
I’ve been an editor and writer for 15 years and spent 10 of those as a freelancer, seven in Berlin, and at least a few feeling like an imposter (but I’m mostly over that now).
I work as a freelance coordinating editor for Lonely Planet, a contributing guidebook writer for DK Eyewitness Travel Guides and have written and edited for start-ups like GetYourGuide and KAYAK. While I somehow always find myself working in the travel world, I also write lifestyle features, opinion pieces, more tech-y careers-related content, SEO copy and have been published on The Guardian.
The early days
My first job out of uni was as an online editor in the financial services industry, but I really found my feet when I started as a book editor in Lonely Planet’s much-loved, much-missed Footscray office in Naarm/Melbourne, all the way back in 2011. Here I learned from the best, fine tuned my editing skills and found confidence in my editorial instincts and abilities.
It was around this time I finished my Master of Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Melbourne.
I’ve never stayed long in the same place
In my twenties I travelled a lot, often leaving home for a year at a time. It took some years to realise the immense privilege in this – to move without purpose or end. And I wish I could turn back time and relive the years I spent backpacking around the world – to places like Central and South America, Southeast Asia and India – and tread a little lighter, savour what it feels like to travel for months on end without a smartphone or laptop (yes!) and let it all sink in a little deeper.
And then I found myself in Berlin
I packed up my north-side apartment in Naarm/Melbourne in 2015 and moved to Berlin with a backpack and the vague intention of writing a book. It’s quite possible I squandered too much of my spare time riding my bike around my new city instead of staring down the blank page because I still haven’t finished (or written) the book.
Home doesn’t feel like a place anymore
I never intended to give the tail-end of my youth and then some to Berlin. But here I am, still, a long way from home and ever-more homesick and unsure of where home actually is. On the upside, I am still in the throws of a passionate love-hate relationship with this addictive-yet-surly city, I have acquired some German language skills (nothing to be too proud of, mind you), and I now have a two-year-old daughter to kick around with.
What’s any of this got to do with my work?
I’ve always been able to find my way home through words and storytelling – the kind of statement that makes eyes rolls (and I don’t blame you!), but it’s true. Whether I’m writing, editing or proofreading, this is where I am most comfortable, most free within myself, no matter where I am. Words, for me, are almost always the antidote.
Write to me
If you’d like to say hello, or get in touch about a project you’re working on (it doesn’t matter where you are in the world!), I’d love to hear from you.