Journalist, Author, Speaker

I’m an LA-based journalist focused on architecture, design, art, literature, and fashion. I love uncovering overlooked or unusual stories, following my own interests, and presenting them to others. Sometimes these interests result in a book, sometimes in a public lecture, and sometimes in a live interview about a compelling topic.

I have an undergraduate degree in archaeology, a master’s degree in art history, and worked for the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden before embarking on a career in broadcasting, writing, and public speaking. While living in Chicago, I hosted and co-produced long-running radio programs on NPR (WBEZ-FM) and WFMT, while writing for many publications, including: Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Vogue, Metropolitan Home, and many others.

An abiding fascination with India led to my frequent travels there over four decades and eventually resulted in a landmark book of my photographs, The Vanishing Stepwells of India, published in 2017 (Merrell, London), with a paperback edition in 2020. Since relocating to Los Angeles in 2018, I’ve lectured at many museums, universities, and clubs on a variety of topics, and in 2024 launched a live interview series, VISUAL WORLD with Victoria Lautman, sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians of Southern California.

My current project is also India-centric, focused on the period Charles and Ray Eames spent on the Subcontinent while preparing to present The India Report of 1958. But I’m always on the hunt for new obsessions.