Dara has pursued two distinct yet complementary paths in her career—teaching and journalism—and has enjoyed how much they continually mesh together. She began her career as an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor, working with a diverse, international student base and eventually shifted to teaching Business and Academic English. She has worked as a language assessor for Dutch Foreign Service applicants and currently teaches Digital Journalism at Webster University in the Netherlands.
As a teacher, Dara loves providing students with greater opportunity to broaden their knowledge and promote greater self expression. She finds teaching a field of continual change, constant and immediate feedback (which few jobs offer) ceaseless stimulation, growth and creativity. Teaching ESL has offered her a superb opportunity to immerse herself in numerous cultures and she considers herself a globetrotter—both in and outside the classroom.
Dara received her Master degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1999. A former staff writer at Metro Silicon Valley, she cut her writing teeth in the Bay Area and eventually relocated to New York City to become a freelance writer. Like all things New York, this proved an accelerated experience. While there, she freelanced for publications such as The Village Voice, Details, Breathe, BUST, Yahoo Internet Life and Mobile Computing. Dara next landed in Amsterdam (the original New York City) where she continues to write and teach. Her work has been translated into Danish, Dutch, German and French.
Dara is a highly versatile wordsmith who believes that good writing demands originality, enthusiasm and most of all, perseverance. She loves compelling stories. The bulk of her writing has focused on social change, sustainability and promoting positive, proactive solutions. She has documented policy-laden issues such as AIDS and carbon trading and is passionate about women’s empowerment and participation in the wider political process. Her career focus has always been on giving a voice to the voiceless and she became a journalist not to describe things as they are, but to question why they are that way—and how we can collectively change it. She now encourages her students to do the same (as well as write, write, write!)
Dara has also designed several workshops in New York City and Amsterdam, which include: women and financial abundance and exploring play (within the workplace). She has volunteered at Mama Cash, the oldest international women's foundation dedicated to advancing women's and girls' human rights and is an enthusiastic cyclist, who loves viewing the world from her spokes.
