Hi.

About This Site
Thanks for visiting my site.  I’ve accumulated a few sample writings, poems, links, and information about myself.  Poke around and leave me some comments about what you see.

If you’re curious about any of my professional experience, check out my résumé.

If you’d like to talk to me about my writing, performances, or anything else, please drop me a line.

Thanks for stopping by!

Much love,
Kerry

Bio

Kerry Flory currently lives in Palmer Square with her 2 roommates, Jackson and Nate, and their domestic petting zoo.

Kerry loves to write and experiment with different forms of communication, which led her to explore different forms (poetry, short stories, novellas, blogs, novels, articles, medical reports) and styles (literary [fiction and nonfiction], news, and medical). She likes to learn new languages (Spanish, American Sign, Braille) or communication cues (nonverbal body language, facial microexpressions, language patterning).

For the past 7 years, she’s been the black sheep editor at a conservative pharmaceutical company.  She’s leaving the company in the fall to attend DePaul University’s Masters of Nonprofit Management program.

Roots

Kerry was born and raised in Valparaiso, a small town in Indiana, just east of Chicago. She attended Ball State University and obtained a BA in Preprofessional Writing (Professional Option) with a minor in Journalism. In college, she was a member of multiple clubs, including the Ball State Flying Cardinals and the Student Government Association. After living in Indianapolis until February 2005, she moved back to Chicagoland. Though ‘home’ is an ever-changing concept for her, Indiana will always be close to her heart.

Her siblings and mother are scattered about the Midwest and NYC. She visits them whenever possible and is grateful for her 3 nephews and their ability to keep her imaginative and young at heart. She loves music, baking desserts, dancing, traveling, and her 3 cats. (Yes, 3… I know that’s a lot of cats, yo.)

The Life of a Cubicle Monkey

Kerry has been an editor for 14 years (7 professionally, 7 scholastically). She focused on journalism at an early age, as copy editor for her high school and college newspapers, copy editor for her college journalistic chapbook, and editor of the English-Art Departments’ annual print collaboration. After college, Kerry learned American Medical Association style at Eli Lilly, then moved to Chicago, where she worked for Takeda Global Research and Development (formerly TAP) for 7 years.

Poetry World

After performing frequently at open mics from 1995-2003, she took some time to focus on her career. In 2007, she returned to reading around Chicago’s various open mics. She hopes to hone her writing and performing skills in the coming years.

Kerry recommends Polyrhythmic’s “Safe Smiles” (at Trace, most Tuesday nights) and Marc Smith’s “Uptown Poetry Slam” (at the historic Green Mill, Sunday nights), in addition to the monthly “Mental Graffiti” night (at Butterfly Social Club, third Monday of the month). She also recommends Heartland Cafe’s “In One Ear/Out the Other” (Rogers Park, Wednesday nights).

Kerry volunteered for Young Chicago Author’s 2009, 9th Annual, “Louder Than a Bomb” teen slam poetry competition, and she looks forward to volunteering again at next year’s competition.

Publications

A smattering of Kerry’s amateur writings and news articles are strewn across Indiana and Chicagoland. She hopes to gather enough pieces to publish a chapbook in 2011.