Kristi is a writer and editor with a Bachelor’s degree in Public and Professional Writing. She has specialized knowledge of applying rhetorical approaches in different writing mediums and an affinity for identifying her audience. She currently serves as the Deputy Editor at TELL ME BEST.
How It Started
Kristi’s journey to becoming a writer and editor was anything but linear. When she first graduated high school, she headed straight to New York University where she doubled majored in early childhood education and child psychology. After a brief stint as a student teacher at an elementary school in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, she realized that although she had a passion for working with children, she didn’t want to turn that passion into a career.
In 2009, about a year after leaving NYU, Kristi landed at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. While there, she studied dramatic performance and studied acting theories coined by greats like Sanford Meisner and Uta Hagen. During her time at the NYCDA, she also worked at the now-defunct NBC Experience Store in Rockefeller Center and at Apple’s flagship 5th Avenue retail location.
Kristi graduated from the NYCDA with a certificate in Dramatic Performance in 2011. She continued living and working in New York City for another year and a half, residing in nearly every borough (sans Staten Island). However, making a living as a young 20-something in New York City is not an easy feat. Thus, she moved back to her home state of New Jersey in 2012.
The next handful of years served as a period where Kristi explored her various interests. She tried wine sales and briefly worked in corporate America. The latter, she quickly found, was not at all for her. Eventually, her lifelong love of animals led to her forging a near-decade-long career as a dog groomer.
Working as a dog groomer was fulfilling in some ways, however, a very apparent void had begun to develop with each passing year. Kristi’s curiosity, intellect, and open heart are what led her to explore different branches of what life had to offer up until that point. But it’s what also prevented her from fully embracing a part of herself that was also sitting just under the surface. She wanted to be a writer.
So Kristi took a leap of faith and a chance on herself. In January 2019, she went back to school to finish the Bachelor’s degree that she had started so many years prior. She honed her craft and garnered specialized skills rooted in rhetorical approaches, producing content spanning across different mediums including podcasting, blogging, and technical writing. In May 2021, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Public and Professional Writing.
A few months later Kristi was hired by Walk Big as a contributing writer for GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT. She was quickly promoted to Staff Writer. Shortly after, she moved over to TELL ME BEST as Team Editor and then took the helm as the site’s Deputy Editor.
How It’s Going
Kristi enjoys serving as the Deputy Editor of TELL ME BEST. She gets to use her vast expanse of knowledge and her keen sense of what the public wants to read about to passionately research and curate the site’s extensive library of newsworthy content. She is also invested in the growth and development of her talented team of writers and consistently gives targeted feedback to aid them in leveling up their skills.
In her spare time, Kristi enjoys long-distance running, going on hikes, spending quality time with her life partner of 12 years, and being a fur mom to her three fluffy kids (Riley an 11-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, Leah an 8-year-old Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix, and Olivia a 12-year-old kitty cat rescued off the streets of Queens while she was living in New York City). She is also an avid reader, a self-described hopeless romantic, and adores playing video games – especially Pokémon.
