Out in nature among wild creatures is where I find much of my inspiration and feel most at home, as I am here wandering through the forest, birding in Germany.
Hello and welcome!
After two decades of working as an environmental journalist, writer and editor, I’ve shifted my focus to bring forth the creative writing projects that live in my head, are scrawled on countless scraps of paper or as short, sometimes cryptic notes on my phone. I also work with individuals to help them bring their creative editorial projects to life, for example, preparing their manuscripts for publication or writing their personal life stories.
My own creative projects center on workbooks that promote well-being and compassion for people, animals and the planet. If you’re part of an organization that offers environmental programming for youth, let’s talk!
My love of workbooks and my desire to create them is inspired by the first one my dad bought me from the Exploratorium in San Francisco when I was young. It was all about math, but not in the way we learn it in the classroom. Rather, it was applied math in the real world. I have this memory of an activity that required I add up all the feet of people standing near one another. I don’t remember what I was supposed to do with that information, but I do remember there was something I would discover about the world and it absolutely thrilled me. I felt like someone was speaking to my brain, my endless curiosity that is like a hamster on a wheel every waking moment of my life. Someone was speaking to me. And I was hooked!
The first workbooks for children that I’ve created focus on helping them navigate their parents’ divorce. There are so many children who need a safe space to process their feelings and be heard during such a big life change. My workbooks give them that space and provide support for a more peaceful family transition, while maintaining love and respect for both parents.
In addition to other workbooks focused on family relationships and self care, I’m planning a series of environmental workbooks designed to engage young minds in the marvels of the natural world. My love for our planet — and all its life forms — began before I could talk. I was naturally drawn to watching birds, insects and snails. Snails were the only animals that didn’t run away from me, allowing me time to really sit with them and observe them, sparking a lifelong love for these creatures. My dad was an environmentalist and my first mentor. He raised me outdoors, encouraging my sense of wonder and weaving the intrinsic value of the natural world into my everyday life. He also taught me how to tread lightly upon Earth and the importance of individual contributions — and their collective power — to protect the planet.
My creative projects are the culmination of my curiosity, colorful mind and desire for everyone and every being to have the opportunities to make the most of their one life, blended with my decades of experience as a journalist and writer — listening, researching, questioning, digging, interviewing, writing and rewriting — and an editor with a versatile background, having worked for a print and digital magazine, various organizations and as an editorial director for a large scientific agency. I hope my work helps to make the lives of others a little bit better.
I have degrees in biological sciences and horticulture, and a certificate in creative writing from a two-year UC program. I’m also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.