more about me
I had a diverse career before becoming a full-time writer. Litigation attorney (WI and WA), education and conference manager for a non-profit, trainer and technical writer at a software company, and PADI scuba instructor are some of the roles I held. Each prepared me for life as a freelance writer.
My legal background wired me for deep research and evidence-based thinking. I’m comfortable with complexity. Whether I’m interviewing an executive or digging into a technical report, my job is to find the why and translate it into something authoritative and readable.
My job in the not-for-profit sector introduced me to work with meaning beyond a paycheck. Time at a pre-cloud software company built my tech foundation, and I’ve been building on it ever since. Teaching people how to scuba dive on a busy Caribbean island taught me how to meet clients where they were and remain calm under pressure.
I’ve spent the last 15 years living and working as a writer across the globe, from Seattle to London to the EU to the Caribbean. I thrive on new challenges, including co-founding a boat charter business in the tropics. Living outside my comfort zone has sharpened my ability to listen, adapt, and find the human angle in any story.
I don’t do it alone. I have a full team behind me.
Chief of Staff
Marley is one of the longest-serving members of my organization. She’s been with me for two international moves and begrudgingly accepted the recent addition of a board of directors. She was adopted from a local island animal shelter as a kitten.
She’s spicy, rarely amused, and judges everything and everyone. She doesn’t have time for your shenanigans. She definitely doesn’t appreciate the Board always in her business. I may do the work that keeps this ship afloat, but she runs the show. She never lets me forget it.
Nicknames: princess, monkey, spice girl
Board of Directors
When you find three bonded sibling kittens abandoned at the island dump, you can’t separate them. So you do what any reasonable person would do. You bring them all home to live with you. I had always wanted a black cat and put that wish out in the Universe years ago. Moral of the story: Be careful what you wish for.
Nyx, Jet, and Rook are young, they’re adventurous, they’ve destroyed every floor-length curtain in my home. They’re also funny, cuddly, and often hard to tell apart. Their main responsibility as members of the newly created Board of Directors is to execute cute office antics that keep my stress levels down (most of the time). They have the opposite effect on the Chief of Staff.
Nicknames: the ringwraiths, trio of terror
Security Detail
Bula and Sol are my seasoned security team. They’ve also been part of multiple international moves. They’ve even flown on their own private plane chartered just for them. Spoiled, right? Although they spend their days napping in my air conditioned office, they’re always on high alert for threats (real or imagined).
Both are neurotic island dogs and have barks that will pierce your eardrums (and the eardrums of those on the other end of a Zoom call). They can accelerate from deep sleep to full-on chaos mode in less than one second. All it takes is the sound of a car door closing a block away. It is their mission to keep me safe when I work from home. They get paid in treats.
Nicknames: Sol Man, Bula Bear, Doggos