I was born in Wauseon, Ohio in 1978 and raised primarily on the Bible and mashed potatoes.  As the youngest of four children in a one television household, I was almost always muscled out of watching Mr. Rogers and instead spent much of my time in a tree in the backyard with my nose stuck in a book.

When I was 7,  my family and I traipsed down to Columbus for the Ohio State Fair where I was awarded a blue ribbon for a poem I wrote in 4-H club.  My passion for writing expanded the next year when my middle school teacher, Mrs. Schwa, taught me how to diagram sentences and gave me a brown paper sack of old books to recognize me as “Writer of the Class.”

My love affair with poetry continued into high school, but as many of my poems contained profanity and sexual references, my teachers did not deem them worthy of recognition.

I attended college at Eastern Michigan University, mostly because I had a full ride and it was NOT in Ohio, which made it exotic.  While at Eastern Michigan, I was second author on an article published in the March 23, 1999 issue of Motivation and Emotion (Machiavellianism, Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Goals, and Social Interest: A Self-Determination Theory Analysis).  In addition my literature review, The Effects of Eye Contact on Pro-Social Behavior, was selected for presentation at the 1999 Undergraduate Symposium.

Post college, I published poetry and mixed media in several issues of Synapse and Poesy magazines while bumming around Santa Cruz, California from 2001-2006.

By the end of 2006, I was back in Michigan.  I published, Small Business Owners:  Know Your Options for Retirement in the Ann Arbor Business Review in January of 2008.

Since 2011,  I’ve written blog posts for Hanuman Yoga & Music Festival, Trail Ascent Trail Running Conference, prAna and Textbroker International.  My work has appeared in Yes! Magazine, Spirituality & Health Magazine, Whole Life Times, Yoga Chicago Magazine, Eastern Magazine, Yoga International, Recovering Yogi, Yoganonymous and TravMonkey.  I’ve also published short fiction with Romance Magazine.  I currently reside in the Rocky Mountains where I spend my time trail running, teaching yoga, and wandering around the written word, including writing grants applications and newsletters for nonprofit organizations.