I have worked at AU for about eight and a half years. Before that, I was the assistant curator at the Erie Art Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania, and I went to school for music. I have a bachelor’s in piano performance and a master’s in music history. My job is to help faculty and students in the Department of Performing Arts (DPA) find music that they need for lessons and performances.

I work out of the music library in the Katzen Arts Center. In a typical day, I look up music in the catalog for musical theater students and help them make copies. I suggest things we should add to the collection and make a daily visit to Bender Library to drop off loan requests and pick things up. I spend a lot of time interfacing with DPA adjunct faculty. They know I’m a friendly face, so they ask questions—and I usually have the answers. The person who helped show me the ropes is Matt Smith, circulation services manager. He taught me how to shelve books on my third day of work or so because I had never worked in a library until I came here.

My favorite days of the work week are Tuesdays and Thursdays when the music library hosts a series of lunchtime performances called Katzen Soundbites. I recruit performers, set up chairs for the audience, and do all of our marketing.

My go-to order at the Dav is a chai latte with almond milk. If I don’t pack lunch, I go to Wegmans and get hot-bar food. My favorite spot to eat is the outdoor patio on the second floor of Katzen that overlooks Massachusetts Avenue.

I found my community at AU through the union and AhealthyU’s Zumba class and walking challenges. I show my AU spirit by wearing my AhealthyU T-shirt off campus. I also keep an AU sweatshirt in my office to wear when it is very cold. I think campus is prettiest when the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

I work from home on Mondays and half of the day on Fridays, and I do book binding. During the pandemic, I took an online music-preservation course. We buy pamphlet binders with fabric tape on the bindings, and then I stitch the books into them. I do a lot of that kind of crafty work at home with a cup of tea. I do my Zoom meetings from our home office, usually with the dog in the background.

When I’m not at work, you can find me in rehearsal with the Arlington Chorale. My hobbies include singing and playing the piano. And I do a lot of fiber arts: sewing, knitting, and cross-stitch.

The last great book I read was Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis, which is about a time-travel agency. In the same kind of sci-fi vein, I’m also a huge Star Wars fan, so the last great show I watched was Ahsoka, the live-action wrap-up to the Star Wars cartoons. The last great meal I ate was tofu tikka masala. My husband makes it about once a week, and I could eat that until I died.

My most Washington moment was singing at A Capitol Fourth on the National Mall—the big concert for the Fourth of July broadcasted on PBS—three times and at the MLB All-Star Game at Nationals Park in 2018. I used to be a guest singer with the Choral Arts Society of Washington, so they call you up when they need extra singers.

If I didn’t work in the AU music library, I’d go back to working in museums. I did enjoy that. But my job at AU is best because I get to work around other musicians all the time, which is something that I missed at my last job. The people are definitely the best part of working at AU.

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