After graduating from the University of Florida with a journalism degree, I moved to Switzerland to be a nanny and traveled around Europe. I then worked for personal finance site Bankrate.com for three years: first as a copy editor and then chief copy editor. At the time, I didn’t know much about money — except I knew it could empower people to feel safe. 

 

But I was also interested in the language-learning experience — I studied Spanish in high school, Chinese in college, and German in Switzerland. So I took a four-year detour into the world of English-language textbook development at Macmillan Publishers. As a managing editor, I learned a ton about project management, organization, and CMS style. I even started using the Oxford comma. 

 

During my time at Macmillan, I earned a “TEFL” degree — teaching English as a foreign language — all while keeping an eye on personal finance. I wrote freelance articles and copy edited as a side hustle. It was a pretty busy time, but my husband and I were trying to pay off about $145,000 in student loan debt and save for a house. 

 

In 2018, I left my job to become a full-time freelance writer with the beefed-up organizational skills of a managing editor. I’m happy to report we’ve paid off that debt and are now homeowners. I also love traveling and set a goal to run a half marathon on each continent. (I got to three before COVID-19 curtailed that goal, so it’s on the back burner for now.)