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). She recently 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.

Kristen lives down a winding road in the Smoky Mountains with her two hound dogs and Norwegian clown-cat. Kristen is an active birder. She also enjoys making soap, kombucha, and mead. Her nature photography business, CamelliaBird, can be found here.