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I am so happy that you found me in this little corner of the internet. There are so many incredible authors, so many heart-warming stories, and yet you found me and my books and chose to learn more. Welcome! If we ever chat face-to-face, you know I wear my heart on my sleeve. You get the real me, all of me. I hope my stories bring that to you, too. Real characters in real-life situations, navigating them with heart and positivity.

In this leg of my journey through life thus far, I have been blessed to meet so many people - in big ways and little - and it is through being in the presence of so many different, yet similar people that I want to share stories of real people. Traveling has been a big part of that - from 4-H youth trips on the East Coast, language school in Mexico, teaching in Costa Rica and Ecuador, traveling with my family across Europe, Asia, Australia, and most recently to the southern tip of South America - people are at the center of it all. As a teacher, I have had the incredible pleasure of getting to know fascinating souls and building relationships with them that extend beyond the classroom doors and continue to this day. With our family business of Manila Resto in our beautiful downtown, my paths have crossed with extremely talented people, driven people, delightful people, all of diverse backgrounds. Through sharing wellness with others, I have forged bonds with women as we choose to live positive and fit lives. The interactions with amazing humans from different cultures, backgrounds, lifestyles, through it all, I’ve learned we are more alike than we are different.

We all have stories. We all show different sides of ourselves in different situations. My hope is to share this slice of humanity, the realness of people no matter their heritage, as they show up as characters brought to life in my books, in circumstances that just may have happened in my own life.

When I’m not thinking about the stories in my head and getting them out to the world, I teach at the secondary level, create educational resources for English Learner teachers, enjoy popping in to our family restaurant, cheer on women in the PosiFit Place, spend my days with our little Marie, after school hours with Evelyn and Reginald, and any spare moment we can create together with my husband, Marlo, - and hopefully planning the next family trip somewhere!

What do we have in common? I’d love to hear from you!