About Me
I Believe
How we care for those who need help has an everlasting impact. I believe that if the basic needs of a person’s spirit, soul and body are met, it allows them the ability to keep their own corner of the world—their home—safe and prosperous for them and their family. This is all there is.
My Mission
I am passionate about leadership, writing and bringing information, truth, justice and inspiration into my world and to all those around me. My mission in life is to have an impact, cause change, improve things and resist negative forces or trends. I help those in need. I build where there was nothing. I believe that anyone and everyone can change and that each new day is a chance to turn it all around.
I've held CFO and COO positions in multiple organizations and regularly consult with companies regarding leadership, operational excellence and change implementation. After earning my CPA in New York, my business career has included finance and operations roles in retail and wholesale industries, in both the public and private sectors. In addition, I have worked with global and local non-profits, including the development of a micro-finance program in western Kenya, where I trained small business owners and entrepreneurs, and currently hold two non-profit board positions.
I am also hosting the podcasts, All There Is and Here to LEAD, and my memoir, Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast, was a 2018 Nautilus Book Award Silver winner and a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards.
I studied my writing craft at the Downtown Writers Center in Syracuse, NY and graduated from their Creative Writing PRO program. I write mostly nonfiction that has appeared in literary journals and anthologies and I have contributed articles to The Post Standard. I also write fiction and have some projects in the works with my artist husband. To see a full list of writing credits, prizes and publications, keep scrolling.
I have lived for some years in Boston and San Diego, but am now back in Syracuse, NY, where I've spent most of my life— the middle child of an ever-expanding family of parents, brothers, sisters, their partners and offspring—where I continue to write about the things that move me, with the hope they move you too.
Prizes, publications & Media
PRIZES
PUBLICATIONS
Finalist, Poetry in Flight Contest for "Sisterhood of the Traveling Sheets" 2022
Winner (Silver) 2018 Nautilus Book Awards Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast
Finalist, 2018 National Indie Excellence Awards Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast
Semi-finalist, William Faulkner Wisdom Creating Contest, Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast (2017)
Recommended by SAN DIEGO WRITERS AND EDITORS GUILD Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast (2017)
Local Author Exhibition, San Diego Public Library Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast (2019)
Third Prize, Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition for "When I Look In The Mirror At Eighty" 2012
Honorable Mention, Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition for "Twenty-Seven Weeks" 2012
Honorable Mention, Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition for "If I" 2013
Third Prize, Fiction500 Contest, "Sundown" 2017
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
ALL THERE IS: Homelessness in America in Scene and Story (2022)
Here to LEAD: Mastering the Art of Leadership in Order to Execute Strategy, Advance Change, and Drive Results (2022)
Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World Moves Too Fast (2018)
“Revolution.” San Diego Decameron Project (February 2021)
“Last Day.” The Guilded Pen: The Power of Ten (2021)
“All There Is.” Mom Egg Review (November 2019) (MER Vox online only)
“All She Needs To Know.” The Sun (August 2019)
“And So Went My Youth.” The Guilded Pen: Lost, Found, Still Looking (2019)
"Butterfly." Silent Screams: Poetic Journeys through Addiction and Recovery, University Professors Press (September 2017)
"Lucky Me." Mom Egg Review Vol. 12 (2014)
"Grandfather Mountain." The Mountain, Outrider Press, Inc. (2014)
"More To The Story." The Post-Standard (August 12, 2013)
"Mountain Goat Run." The Post-Standard (March 14, 2011)
"When I Look In The Mirror At Eighty." The Mom Egg Vol. 10 (2012)
"Nerves." The Mom Egg Vol. 9 (2011)
MEDIA & EVENTS
MEDIA & EVENTS
- Television guest, KUSI Good Morning San Diego, 2018
- Speaker/Presenter, San Diego Writers Festival, 2019
- Speaker/Presenter, FP&A Leadership Summit by JPK Group, 2018
- Speaker/Presenter, Leading Strategy Forum, JPK Conference, 2019
- Featured in Watercolor artist Magazine, Spring 2021
- Featured in Fairfax Woman magazine, May/June 2018
- Featured in San Diego DECAMERON Project, February 2021
- Featured in Local Author Exhibit, San Diego Public Library, 2019
