A performer, writer, music and stage director, composer/lyricist, voice instructor and photographer, Kristen has taught vocal instruction both privately and on the University level. She is the co-creator and composer/lyricist for A Ghost of Christmas Past, a femme-forward retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with adapted script by Ashlee Wasmund. Kristen has written two books, Big Lily’s Rent-A-Belly and God Is Not a Bully: A Not-So-Churchy Memoir. Her poem, “On Becoming Water”, was published in Touchstone – the journal of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.

A crossover artist, Kristen enjoys a freelance regional career in musical theatre and opera. Her former students can be seen on the stages of regional houses, theme parks, cruise ships, National and International Tours, Off Broadway and Broadway companies. Additionally, Kristen has enjoyed working as guest voice instructor for Terrence Mann and Charlotte d’Amboise’s Triple Arts musical theatre intensive.

Kristen received her Master of Music from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the UNC School of the Arts. Additionally, she earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance (UNC School of the Arts) and a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre (Catawba College). In 2021, she completed a M.A. in Celtic Studies at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, graduating with distinction and winning the Reverend Thomas Jones Creaton Prize in Welsh. Currently, Kristen is a Ph.D student in Celtic Studies with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies where she continues to explore works by under-represented Irish and Welsh women writers.

Kristen is the mother of two dogs, (one hound and one cattle) as well as two farm-loving cats and four quirky chickens. She is an active birder and beekeeper. Her nature photography website, CamelliaBird, can be found here.