I was born on Mott Street in the Little Italy section of New York, New York, to two native New Yorkers. I have an older sister, who liked to beat me up and still does sometimes.
When I was just a baby, my family moved to Randolph, New Jersey. I grew up there and in Morris Plains, where I went to a small school called Saint Virgil’s. There, I went on to receive many awards, including Multiple Honor Rolls, Perfect Attendance, various-colored Science Fair ribbons, and even once a math award, which everyone knew was just to be nice. I also held many public offices, including Treasurer of the Fifth Grade, which was basically managing a bowl of loose change; Student Council President, which enabled me to wear a very shiny pin each day; and school crossing guard.
I started to write when I was in Second Grade. A story about a little cat named Blackie. After that, I made a comic book series called The Appletons, which my sister helped a lot with. I started working on the school newspaper in Fifth Grade and really liked it. When I went to high school at a place called Delbarton, I continued to work on the paper there, too.
People called me "Rocky" as a nickname then.
But not because I was a fighter.
But because Francesco felt like a really big name. (I changed it when I was 4.)
When I was 18, I moved back to my beloved New York City, and went to NYU, where I got my undergraduate degree in writing from the Gallatin School, which is pretty much the coolest school ever. During that time, I became a writing intern for Saturday Night Live and got to make coffee for some pretty jazzy people, like Adam Sandler and Mike Myers.
After school, I wrote an interactive show that ran Off-Off Broadway with a group of great friends. It ran for almost five years and was one of the most exciting times of my life. I basically wrote the story of my very fun 21st birthday party and cast all of my friends to play themselves—or a version of themselves, and in some cases, one another. And the audience were just there as guests of the party, running around with all my friends in cool costumes, hearing all their gossip and storylines.
I began my work in publishing at Alfred A. Knopf, as an assistant in the publicity department. I learned a lot there and realized I wanted to still write while I worked. So, I went back to Gallatin and began really focusing on writing in new ways.
Miss Popularity was my first series. And working on Pathfinders Society with Prescott has been one of my favorite experiences. I also made the Emmy-winning TV show The Who Was? Show for Netflix with Prescott and some other very smart people. Go watch it! And write a letter to Netflix, telling them they were silly not to make another season.
I live in New York City with my husband Doug and our cat, Alfredo.
