I was born in Meriden, Connecticut and raised in Union City, NJ. I lived on a popular street called “Roosevelt Street” with my parents, maternal grandparents, two brothers and my older sister. “Roosevelt” (and Union City) was a tight-knit community: I spent a lot of my childhood playing outside with close friends and my brother Lee (my best friend): rollerblading, playing manhunt, playing pick-up basketball games and attending block parties – it was a time filled with a lot of joy.
After growing FIVE inches in the seventh grade, I ended up on the basketball team. As a Freshman, I made the Varsity team and, the following summer at the Chuck McBreen Basketball Camp, my team and I won the league championship (I took FOUR charges during the televised game!). I had the opportunity to attend a prestigious basketball camp after that and played ball for a while, but during my Junior year I realized I wasn’t passionate about basketball anymore and decided to quit.
I’ve always been a writer. As a kid, I won numerous writing awards including a state-wide Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest and I was a prolific short story writer, but I’ve worked in many industries over the years: finance, marketing, public relations, publishing…you name it.
I spent years ignoring what I really wanted to do (which was write books) and one day I decided to finally sit down and write my debut novel “Braintown.” The name of the book popped into my head out of nowhere and once I started writing it, I couldn’t stop. It’s a story that was always sitting in the back of my mind and in a way, I feel like a lot of the experiences I’ve had in my life inspired me to write the book. I hope you’ll check it out.
L
