I don't know how far back you want to go, but how about we start at the beginning and then skip around some?

I was born on an Air Force Base in Tacoma, Wash. My dad was career Air Force, and that made me a military brat. By the time I graduated high school, I had attended 11 schools.

Consequently, I am great at getting people to open up quickly and lousy at higher math. 

After receiving a BA in government and a minor in women's studies from California State University, Sacramento, in 1988, I went on to work for some wonderful social justice organizations.

I spent 15 years serving the public relations and marketing needs of Women Escaping a Violent Environment, Inc., a domestic violence and rape crisis center in Sacramento; Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, the state's largest food bank; and Community Action of Rock and Walworth Counties, an anti-poverty program in southern Wisconsin. 

I also worked for five years as a features writer for a family-owned chain of newspapers in California's Central Valley.

Today, I work full-time as an educator special needs students and English language learners. When I'm not in the classroom or spending time with my husband, Hank, a middle school principal, and our three children, I'm probably writing.

Editors and sources often ask me why I freelance when I already have full-time, steady work as an educator.

The answer is simple: I love telling stories. 

This year, I'll file over 50 stories for newspapers and magazines throughout the Midwest.