Terri Muuss is a multi-career tour de force who balances a full-time social work gig with directing shows, writing books, speaking at conferences and colleges, running a private practice, performing her one-woman show, teaching writing workshops and curating a popular poetry series with her husband, author Matt Pasca, and parenting her three children.

A native of New Jersey, Terri moved to New York City after earning a BA in Theatre from Kean University. In New York, Terri studied acting at AMDA and Michael Howard Studios, and went on to perform professionally for over a decade on stages around the United States and in Ireland, also branching out into commercial and Anime voiceover work. In 1998, she premiered her autobiographical one-woman show Anatomy of a Doll in Manhattan, named “Best Theatre: Critics’ Pick of the Week" by the New York Post, and has performed it all over the USA (and in Canada) since.

In 2001, Terri went back to school to get her Masters degree at the Hunter College School of Social Work and started practicing professionally in 2003. She has worked as a private therapist, a school social worker, specializing in fields of addiction and trauma. As a motivational speaker, Muuss has given keynote addresses and run workshops at dozens of conferences, colleges and high schools.

As an author, Terri has penned two poetry collections, Over Exposed (2013) and Godspine (2020). She has won multiple Best-of-the-Net awards, received two Pushcart Prize nominations and had work published in dozens of publications and anthologies. Terri has performed her work at venues all over the United States and hosted numerous Open Mic series, including Poetry at the Pulse in NYC and Second Saturdays at Cyrus, where she brought in acclaimed poets such as Sarah Jones, Roger Bonair-Agard, Alix Olsen, Stephen Coleman, Suheir Hammad, Noel Quiñones, Regie Cabico, Jeanann Verlee, and Patricia Spears Jones. In 2016, Terri co-edited an anthology of New York women poets entitled Grabbing the Apple.

Terri also excels at adapting and directing material for the stage, having seen the full process through for Deborah Ortiz’s Changing Violet, Danzy Senna’s Caucasia, and Rich Ryan’s Lemon Meringue. She has coached countless actors and directed numerous Off-Off-Broadway productions and over one hundred youth productions through her work as a teaching artist/director for TADA! and various Long Island school districts.

Terri is an avid chef, friend, and world traveler who cherishes her time with her husband Matt Pasca and three children, Sodasia, Rainer, and Atticus.