Hi there! My name is Joe, and I’m a storyteller.

My obsession with stories began with musical theater. From the first time I stepped onstage, I caught the performing bug and haven’t looked back. I earned my bachelor’s in music education from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, started my first career as a choir teacher, and went on to become a professional singer and Jeff Award–nominated musical theater actor who’s performed in theaters and cabarets across Chicago.

After a few years, I went in search of a new adventure at Northwestern University, where I enrolled in a master’s program focused on leadership in creative enterprises. I took a job as a contributor to the program’s blog and discovered a new way to stretch my creative muscles: writing.

Now, after collaborating on creative projects for some of the nation’s most vibrant nonprofits and higher education institutions—including La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Northwestern University—and working as a public servant in the Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s communications and outreach bureau, I’m taking on a new role as the director of annual giving at University of Chicago’s Laboratory Schools.

I thrive at the nexus of all my passions: writing about the arts, education, and fundraising.

Want to learn more?