I was born in Chambéry, France and raised between Thessaloniki, Greece and Nicosia, Cyprus, growing up in a multicultural environment. I benefited from early musical studies on the piano and subsequently studied drums with Brian Abrahams and mallet percussions with Daniela Ganeva. I hold masters degrees from the Trinity College of Music and King’s College London, and an Artist Diploma from the State University of New York at Purchase where I was fortunate to study with Hal Galper, Jon Faddis, and John Abercrombie. My studies were generously supported by the Nicolas Economou Foundation, the State University of New York, and Trinity College of Music.

I completed my PhD at the University of Nottingham in 2018 where I was awarded the Vice-chancellor's Award for Research Excellence and the Leventis Foundation doctoral scholarship. My PhD focused on the life and work of vibraphonist Milt Jackson. In 2019 was awarded the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship to research spatial navigation in improvising musicians, as well as a Berger-Berger-Carter research fellowship for my work on the Modern Jazz Quartet.

I am a presently a lecturer in jazz studies at the University of Manchester where I teach jazz historiography and criticism, improvisation, theory and analysis, performance, and on topics in Balkan and popular music(s). A musician at heart, my research interests are consistently informed by my practice and experience as an improvising percussionist, whether in jazz, Balkan and contemporary music or their fusion.