Hey There

I’m Cassandra and I’m a freelance writer, guidebook author, and product tester. I specialize in the intersection of travel, adventure, and sustainability, and write everything from accessible product reviews to digital and printed travel guides. The threads of my career have been exploration, teaching, and guiding, so while I initially worked in branding and then built a career around community development and food justice, travel has always been my passion.

Ridiculous multi-month hitchhiking trips across Cuba, where I camped in Guantanamo and got locked overnight in a dive shop bathroom, led me to start a small tour agency called EscapingNY. The tours I organized and led around Cuba, Mexico, and Jordan were featured in Fodor’s and The New York Times, and my guidebook, Cuba by Bike, premiered at #1 on Amazon before I even had any major digital bylines.

Starting my writing career with a guidebook was a bit non-traditional, but it got my foot in the door in a big way, and I was soon writing high-profile and high-ranking travel, culture, and lifestyle features for The New York Times, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, TIME, AARP, and others. Fodor recruited me to contribute to their 2022 Best USA Road Trips guidebook and then their 2023 Essential Egypt guidebook. Lonely Planet asked me to contribute to their 2024 Joy of Quiet Places hardbound book and their 2025 Costa Rica guidebook.

As a passionate hiker, biker, diver, and camper, I began pitching (and landing) outdoor gear reviews in 2020 and soon began writing monthly product reviews for Forbes and The Daily Beast. I expanded to testing and reviewing home, lifestyle, and accessible products (with my mother, who has Parkinson's and dementia) and have written hundreds of product reviews for Forbes, CNN, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, and elsewhere. I’ve tested everything from sofas and self-watering plants to suitcases and sneakers. I now also write sponsored product reviews and commerce roundups for Yahoo. When I’m not getting lost in jungles and forests around the world, I’m getting lost in mystery books at home in New York City, where I also love cycling, practicing yoga, brewing kombucha, and fermenting funky foods.