Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE I grew up in poverty and with many family challenges. I dropped out of school and left home at age 15 to work in a coat factory, where I quickly discovered the quietly desperate lives of my middle-aged, burdened co-workers was not the life or future I had envisioned. I quit and helped start an alternative high school, from which I eventually graduated; the first person in my family to complete high school. When I was 17, I co-founded a domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy center (where, much later, I returned as the agency Executive Director). At 18, I fulfilled a dream to travel abroad, and explored continental Europe alone for three months. After graduating from college, I joined the Peace Corps and served on a tiny island in the Philippines. I have had the privilege to lead a number of non-profit organizations, including one which hosted an emergency shelter for families. The germ of my children’s book A Quilt and a Home grew out of my non-profit work as well as some of my own childhood experiences with homelessness and poverty.  I am a native of the Pacific Northwest where I love living between the amazing, crisp young mountains and the beautiful waters of Puget Sound. Always an avid reader, I love writing poetry and story.  I find human-kind to be both perplexing and astounding; I am driven to the edge of lunacy, then to joyful tears by the depth, kindness and beauty I witness in people around me. From this rich texture of the human condition I find wonderful and meaningful material with which to see with new eyes. /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE   /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}