[image1-right]Where do you work and what is your role?
I work at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago as a web producer. Poetryfoundation.org is one of the leading websites for American poetry, and the website for the Poetry Foundation and its programs, which include the monthly serial Poetry.
What do you like best about your job?
I enjoy the fact that I am part of an organization committed to making poetry more visible to the public through celebrating the best poetry available, while exposing new kinds of poetry to the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation's website and mobile app are an essential part of this endeavor. There isn't a boring day here. The diversity of the content and the work make each day very interesting. Working with the web content, audio poems, podcasts, video, and the online archive of Poetry magazine, I have a greater appreciation of the publishing industry and the job of content creators. This work requires us as information professionals to address issues of information storage and retrieval.
How did GSLIS help you get to where you are today?
GSLIS provided me with a great understanding of how library and information science is a very flexible field to be in. I was able to grasp a larger picture of the current role information plays in our lives through the classes I took, including metadata, web design and computer programming, user experience, and information and project management. I am currently using skills from all of these areas in my position at the Poetry Foundation.
What advice would you like to share with GSLIS students?
For anyone who has not yet found a concentration within LIS, I would say, don't be afraid to take the classes that you personally enjoy and assume a more general focus in your studies. You should be building the skills you are most passionate about, and there is a way to market those skills and become the information professional you want to be. To be a librarian or not isn't the question. However, I still consider myself a librarian, having worked at Northern Illinois University Library as an undergraduate student and more recently at Roosevelt University as the electronic resource management librarian.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I am a dancer, actually. A bboy, a breaker, or more commonly known as a breakdancer. I have been dancing for the past ten years. I am a part of Phaze II Crosstown Crew, which has been in Chicago for more than thirty years. We compete, perform, and teach youth the art of breakin' in the Chicago area at the Phaze II School of HipHop. I have had amazing opportunities to travel around the country and the world doing what I love!
What’s next for you?
I hope to bring all my passions together—poetry, dance, and technology— to cultivate creativity wherever I am. I am in a good place and I would love to share my blessings with others!