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 the majority of my focus toward creative writing projects, including 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 and are looking to produce materials, 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 curiosity, creativity, love of functionality and a desire for everyone and every being to have opportunities to make the most of their life. Paired with decades of experience as a journalist, writer and editor, listening, researching, questioning, digging, interviewing, writing and rewriting help me produce materials that resonate with others. 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.