The Short Story

I’m a writer and creative strategist with 20+ years of experience in advertising, design, retail brand management, and marketing. I help small to medium-sized businesses strategize creatively, helping them manage the big picture of their marketing, from brand and product positioning and building the brand voice to rethinking websites and creating visual and written content. Designing a career with space for my creative writing practice has been a happy accident. I write fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and personal essay, much of which orbit around the alchemy of people and place. I am currently writing a semi-autobiographical novel that explores how we wrestle with our expectations and legacies in middle age. I’m a big believer in the power of community to inspire and sustain creative lives. As a member of the Writer’s League of Texas, Courage to Create, and Blue Stone Writers communities, and a former Writing Barn fellow, I enjoy learning, collaborating, and giving back to the larger writing community. I am also a long-time organizer for CreativeMornings/Austin.

The Long, Winding Version …

I came out of the womb with a passport and my bags packed. My love of reading, traveling, and a meandering career have taken me far, to places real and imagined.

Born in Kansas City, I spent my school-aged years in Albuquerque, NM. The eldest of five kids living in 'The Burque,' I lived a life of quiet, jet-setting sophistication … in my mind. The reality looked more like the Griswold family’s clumsy misadventures. If you're wondering, yes, it included a cross-country-bound, wood-paneled station wagon. 

My first leap sent me to the University of Kansas for an Advertising degree, then to Chicago, the mecca of packaged goods advertising. My young dream of working through the agency ranks was extinguished early on, but it was for the best. Round hole? Meet square peg. I knew then that I desired to embrace the unconventional. So, I set off on a long, winding path.

My route wound through fine art, photography, entertainment, and publishing in Chicago, D.C., New York, London, and Austin, working as an account manager, photo editor, copywriter, retail brand and packaging manager, designer, and marketer. Smack dab in the middle, I pressed pause and pursued a master’s degree in art history. You could say that I’m a generalist’s generalist.

In 2014, I received the ‘gift' of surprise unemployment. Fueled by fear, hope, and audacity, I started to create the kind of work I wanted: a circle large enough for my square peg, with room to grow. In this work, I enjoy collaborating and co-creating with my clients, helping them reconnect with their stories. My favorite question is ‘what if’? I’m a prolific can-o-worms opener, encouraging you to expand your boundaries for what’s possible.

The joys of working for myself have been many. Most importantly, I've created more space for my creative writing. I write fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and personal essay, much of which orbit around the alchemy of people and place and how place shapes our identity. I am currently revising my debut novel, a semi-autobiographical story that explores how we wrestle with our expectations and legacies in middle age.

I’m a big believer in the power of community to inspire and sustain creative lives. As a member of the Writer’s League of Texas, Courage to Create, and Blue Stone Writers communities, and a former Writing Barn fellow, I enjoy learning, collaborating, and giving back to the larger writing community. I am also a long-time organizer for CreativeMornings/Austin.