Whether I'm cooking in the kitchen, researching restaurants, or meeting small farmers, food has always played an integral part in my life. After taking over family holiday meals, I interned at a local catering company in high school. I fell in love with truffles, gelato, and salted meats during a summer study abroad program in Florance, Italy. Back in KY, I realized could merge my love of writing with my passion for food after the Lexington Herald-Leader published my article as its quarterly travel section's cover piece.Sophomore year, I studied abroad in Paris to explore its gastronomic landscape, and ostensibly practice French.
Back at Penn, a friend and I co-founded Rabbit and Rind, a wine and cheese club named after the iconic wine opener and cheese's inedible crust. During the next two summers, I worked at the U.S. Embassy in Paris researching and writing a book on the biographies of the 20th Century U.S. Ambassadors to France. After spending days delving into musty archives, I would hunt for the best chocolate almond croissant in the city. Trying at least half of France's five hundred types of cheese is nearly equal in significance to finishing the book.
At NYU's Journalism School, I chose food as my beat, and living in, arguably, the best city for food, I've learned a tremendous amount about the food industry, chefs and restaurants. Internships at both Saveur and Gourmet served as invaluable experiences, and I started contributing regularly to the Huffington Post and freelancing for food magazines like Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn.
While I have always enjoyed fashion and finding the best boutique in whatever town I visit, I had never considered writing about fashion until I had the opportunity to work at Vogue. I learned a great deal, and love writing about it--and food, travel, and art--for Vogue.com and Voguepdia.
P.S. Stay tuned for the launch of my new website, The Looking Lab, which will focus on travel, interviews, food, and interior design. In the meantime, follow me on Tumblr (thelookinglab), Instagram (thelookinglab), Twitter (thelookinglab), and Pinterest (thelookinglab).