I was born in Blacksburg, Virginia, and grew up on a farm in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains called Newport. The house was built in 1864.

I majored in English and Literary and Cultural Studies at the College of William & Mary. My dream was to be a writer and during college I started writing for Pitchfork. It was brief (they let me go) but exciting.

In 2000 I moved to NYC and my first job was as a writer for a radio news service. I began writing record reviews for places like the Village Voice. This was the first piece of writing I ever got paid for ($75 if I remember correctly).

I was a Managing Editor at flavorpill before joining eMusic as Managing Editor and then Editor in Chief. I made a living as a writer for close to ten years freelancing for places like Spin, New York Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly.

At eMusic I started a record label called eMusic Selects. We released debuts by High Places, Breathe Owl Breathe, Crystal Stilts, Julianna Barwick, and Rural Alberta Advantage — artists and albums I love to this day.

In 2005 I met my friend Perry Chen, and we began working on what would become Kickstarter. The site launched on April 28, 2009, and it’s grown steadily since.

To date I have backed more than 500 Kickstarter projects. You can get in touch with me through Twitter here. Thanks!