It was approaching midnight when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded "Rocky" the Oscar for Best Picture. Just a few hours later, I made my worldwide debut...

That next morning, and for the following 18 years, I called the small town of Pound Ridge, NY home. Located on the state's southeastern corner, Pound Ridge is a stone's throw from a number of bustling towns and cities, yet it's wooded and quiet enough to make you feel like you're in the middle of New Hampshire. It's undoubtedly one of the best kept secrets of the New York metropolitan area.

I spent my formative years going to school, and lots of it. Early on I attended the local Montessori and elementary schools. Later, I attended Fox Lane Middle School and Fox Lane High School in neighboring Bedford, NY. But before I knew it, college loomed....So I decided to get away from it all by moving to the smallest state in the country!

I spent my next four years at Brown University, which is located in what many are now calling America's newest "renaissance city." Providence, RI was a wonderful place to grow both personally and academically. I will always remember it as the place where I a) studied like crazy and b) began my official "real world" experience. Of course, in the real world, no one stays up until 3am on five consecutive nights trying to cram for finals with the aid of caffeinated water. And it certainly rained more in Providence than it does in the real world. But it was close.

While at Brown I concentrated (Brown-speak for "majored") in Human Biology. The Human Bio concentration is for people who are looking for a more interdisciplinary approach to biology. As it turned out, my main interest was in the evolution of human behavior and culture. So although I took many of my required courses within the biology department, I also supplemented them with courses in anthropology, psychology, and sociology. Of course, I took lots of other science and math classes as well, and plenty of random classes (Typography, Music and Modern Life, French, etc.) to boot.

My time at Brown flew quickly, however, and after graduating in 1999 I was finally ready to embark on my career as a science writer/editor. I packed all my things and made the gigantic leap into New York City, where my first job as an editor of Scholastic's Science World magazine awaited. I stayed on at Science World until the following March, when I got the opportunity to join the dot-com party and become a full-time writer at SPACE.com. Unfortunately, the party fizzled after just seven months, when company "restructuring" came a-calling. A whole bunch of unemployment checks later, I landed a job as an editor at McGraw-Hill's AviationNow.com, where I stayed for six months. I called Discover, an artsy science magazine aimed at the general public, my home away from home for the next four and half years. And I'm now the editorial director at BrainPOP, an educational website that offers fun animated movies! Outside of work I like to check out New York's music and contemporary art scenes, dabble in music recording and jewelry-making, and play sports like squash and field hockey.

As for my parents, they're still keeping the home fire burning back in Pound Ridge. But they've been spending more of their time at their second home in Deia, Mallorca (Spain). They've also been taking care of Gala, their resident keeshond, and helping me root for New York's Amazins. I do have a little brother, Jordi, too—He's a law man!

Anyhoo, that's about it! Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to sign my guestbook before you wander out into cyberspace!

ciao,
Maia