Born in Guam, she obtained a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2003, and subsequently taught English as a second language at the College of Micronesia in Pohnpei.
[2] Her PhD Thesis was titled "Menginpehn Lien Pohnpei: a poetic ethnography of urohs (Pohnpeian skirts)", and was supervised by Teresia Teaiwa and Brian Diettrich.
[5] I-Kiribati poet Teresia Teaiwa described it as "ethnographic poetry", "lush with the languages and imagery of Pohnpei and Micronesia", "an exciting new contribution to Pacific literature".
Samoan writer Sia Figiel described her poetry as "disturbing and haunting, illuminating and tender", "woven from the violent threads of postcolonialism, laced with patches of Island humour", "a powerful addition to Pacific Literature".
[9] The Office of Insular Affairs, a branch of the United States government's Department of the Interior, describes her as "one of the most gifted young writers in the Pacific".