Theater major and Music minor Parlin Gressitt ’26 transferred to Arcadia University with an already impressive portfolio: four self-published books, five albums, and a growing YouTube channel. To her, storytelling through various formats offers a unique opportunity to express oneself in ways that are accessible to all.

“It’s cool to know that there are multiple ways for you to explain the same thing,” Gressitt said. “For example, I have a lot of medical conditions that I am super open about. When I meet someone, I try to tell them about my medical conditions in case anything ever happens, and at this point, I could say, ‘Well, I can either tell you about them now, or you could read the chapter on them in my memoir, or you could listen to the song about them in my third CD, or you could watch the YouTube video about them on my channel.’”

Using Barnes and Noble’s self-publishing program under the pen name Merissa Tara, she’s published a memoir; a collection of short stories, each unique in theme and style; a novel presenting two versions of the same story, one focused on the characters’ youth and the other on their more mature reflections; and a fantasy novel released last year about three fairy sisters.

“I have a really active imagination,” Gressitt said of her inspiration for these stories. “And so I’m constantly thinking of myself in fantastical worlds.”

In addition to writing, Gressitt has released five CDs with original music, blending singer-songwriter and folk influences with her storytelling. Music runs in the family: her dad is a professional jazz guitarist who occasionally accompanies her on guitar for covers posted on YouTube, and her mom is a professional jazz vocalist. She uses CD Baby to distribute her music on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and other streaming platforms, and has two more albums scheduled for release in August.

“I try to write songs that have storytelling elements in them,” she explained. “I attempt to write like this is a song about something, and it will take you somewhere. I try to write songs where you can imagine the things that I’m singing about.”

Gressitt’s decision to transfer to Arcadia came late in her final year at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey. Drawn to Arcadia by the smaller campus, music and theater programs, and the castle, she toured several schools before feeling at home at Arcadia. 

“My dad said, ‘Sometimes when you’re looking at a college, you might have this feeling where you’re like, ‘this is where I want to go, I know that this is where I belong, this is the school I want to be at,’” she said. “Then, when we were at Arcadia, I was like, ‘Dad, this is it. This is where I’m having that feeling. It’s this, it’s here.’”

She described the transfer experience as smooth overall. “The hardest part wasn’t living away from my parents, but being away from my cat,” she said with a laugh. Since arriving, Gressitt has embraced her new environment by joining the Cabaret Club and the ASL Club, taking many theatre classes, and starting to take private voice lessons through Arcadia’s Music program to sharpen her skills.

Check out all of Gressitt’s creative work on her website here.