ABOUT ALLISON

Award-winning author, and TEDx speaker, Allison is a graduate student at Harvard Extension School pursuing her Master of Liberal Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. She is also a graduate of Xavier University with her M.A. in Psychology where she focused her research on mindfulness and strengths-based goal setting. Today she is a writer and content creator both independently and commercially. She is passionate about working with individuals to foster creativity and delivered a TEDx talk entitled "A Fall Does Not Define You, How You Rise Will Redefine You."

Allison is highly motivated to preserve and improve the world through innovative and collaborative learning. She teaches creative writing to people of all ages through workshops and in the classroom. She is a skilled communicator and advocate who enjoys using humor in her public speaking as well as in local initiatives such as Red Feather Reflections and The Lotus Project.

Additionally, Allison has a wealth of creative experiences such as performing in Seattle with Cirque du Soleil, earning a title as one of the Top 100 Female Chess players in the United States in 2021 and 2022, meriting state awards for outstanding creative writing, and receiving national medals for excellence in Irish Music performance as well as the Swarthmore Book Award. Her own writing has been published in several anthologies with her newest piece, "What Remains" as the winner of the Inked in Gray 2022 Anthology contest to be the released later this year entitled "We Deserve to Exist." She has also been published in Oberlin College's "The Grape," "Down in the Dirt," "Vocal," and in "The Chatterbox" among others. In her free time, Allison works as a coach and mentor to scholastic women in chess through advocating for gender equality and celebration.