I was born in Havana, Cuba and reared in Miami, Florida.  At around six, I recall, being taken by my Mother and Tia Dulce, to see the extraordinary Cuban prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso.  This experience created a life long love of dance, beauty, story-telling, music and drama.  I studied ballet as a child at the Alicia Alonso School until the revolution closed the school.

In the USA, I remember reading aloud in 7th grade and the kids laughing at my characterization.  That’s when the giving expression to the spoken word became my passion.  I studied acting at Douglas & Livingston College at Rutgers University before heading to New York City and acting and directing new plays of social relevance.

It was the collaboration with writers and actors in the development process that brought me to Carnegie-Mellon University where I earned an MFA in Directing.

Back in NYC, I worked for Joe Papp in The Shakespeare on Broadway program and became Education Coordinator.

Continuing to direct, I taught K-12 as aTeaching Artist, bringing storytelling alive for the students , teachers and parents, then taught internationally in Singapore and at Semester at Sea where I directed a troupe of undergraduates and performed for audiences in in South Africa, India, The Philippines and Japan.

Back at Carnegie-Mellon Drama, I taught acting, directing and theater history and directed new plays.  I became faculty of the Entertainment Technology Center  teaching applied improvisation, story-telling structure and presentation skills  to students in Australia, Portugal and the USA.  I’ve continued facilitating applied improv workshops at Lehigh University.