I came to Victoria University of Wellington in 2003, via California (where I taught at Cal State Bakersfield), Ohio (where I taught and completed my PhD at OSU) and Washington, DC (where I grew up). 

I am active in the aesthetics community. I have been a co-editor of the American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) Newsletter (2003–2010), served on the ASA Board of Trustees (2011–2014 and 2022-2025), ASA-sponsored Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP) Summer School Teacher for 2016, and Vice-Chair of the ASA Feminist Caucus Committee (2016–2018). In addition to thinking about the arts, I also enjoy being part of their creation. I have also been a member of Occupation: Artist (2017-2021) and participate in Park(ing) Day regularly here in Wellington. 

I have a passion for bringing philosophy to children, and enjoy working with local schools to run Philosophy for Children (P4C) classes. I have taught kids and supported teachers all around Wellington (Island Bay, SWIS, Ridgway, Worser Bay, Wellesley College), and I worked with City Gallery to develop and run a 10-week long “Thinking Through the Arts” curriculum for primary school students. 

I love languages. I went to a French Lycée (Lycée Français International) before university, where my education was in French. I'm trying to pass along my French to my children, and helped establish Wellington's first French bilingual unit at Ridgway School (through FRENZ) supporting the local Francophone community in 2019. I also studied German, and spent a year at the Technical University of Berlin thanks to a DAAD German Academic Exchange Grant. I am now on my (slow, life-long) te reo Māori journey, having completed level 4 with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. 

I'm a single mum with two kids, a dog, a one-eyed cat, an axlotl and a variety of fish. I am a permanent beginner surfer and enjoy spending time in the ocean.