Hello. I’m Dez.

Creative. Storyteller.

I am a creative who’s honed their skills as a storyteller, writer, and editor through collaboration and mentorship. My mission is to empower those around me, including the brand, company, or person I represent, to express authenticity with captivating and creative storytelling.

Beyond my professional work, I am currently writing and illustrating a graphic novel.

Professional Content

Writing. Editing.

Preservation League of NYS Guest Post – Giving New Life to a Historic Building

On Thursday, May 30th, 2024, Springbrook unveiled the Ford on Main in Oneonta, New York, a mixed-use development in downtown Oneonta. The event brought together community members and local dignitaries to tour the building, the top two floors of which have been fully renovated to include 24 market-rate apartments. In October 2022, I contributed a guest post about the historic Ford block for the Preservation League of New York State.

*Photo courtesy of Springbrook.

Southern Tier Connect Long-Form Content – The Intersection of LGBTQ+ and Disability

Issues like discrimination in healthcare and insurance affect the LGBTQ+ population as a whole, but did you know that approximately five million LGBTQ+ people in America have a disability? Being a person with a disability and identifying as LGBTQ+ can lead to poor health outcomes and higher rates of mental health conditions, exclusion from being an active participant in both communities due to poor infrastructure and planning, and being subject to gatekeeping. Read this article in issue eight of The Connection.

Springbrook Long & Short Form Content – Inspirations Magazine, Summer 2023

This issue of Springbrook’s Inspirations magazine addresses topics from medicinal marijuana for people with developmental disabilities to supported education and inclusion in the workforce. Every issue of Inspirations magazine contains long-form content and short copy focused on stories from around the organization. Shorter content includes social media and donor-relations copy, including stories from a fortnightly newsletters, the Good News Roundup.

Blog

Travel. Writing.

[…] a pedestrian is a person of any ability who goes by foot or uses a mobility device like a wheelchair, powerchair, walker, or stander. Who gets to be a pedestrian is a different question. Of the places I have lived or had the privilege to walk, some are much more pedestrian-friendly than others. 

Being a pedestrian means opening myself to alternative modes of being, functioning, and generally living with the world. As a pedestrian, I must be self-reliant in my means to get somewhere. In this self-reliance, I include the resources I’ve collected for my disposal.

Read more below at Pedestrian Only.

Me posing on a bench in Tartu, Estonia, c.2014