I grew up in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. I lived for most of my early life on an island called Treasure Island in the middle of an inland lake. Time spent on the water fueled story ideas galore, as well as cementing my love of spending time in the outdoors, in particular swimming and boating. This love was all the more important after my husband and I moved here to Minnesota, where we spend as much time as possible with our six kids exploring the region.

One of my great passions is learning about and helping to preserve the Great Lakes. I spend a lot of time on Google Earth and various other websites learning about the history of Door County, WI, which features in many of my stories. The image on the right is a shipwreck kayak tour I took summer of 2022 with my oldest son that took us over the wreck of the Fleetwing, which I fictionalize in my MFA thesis.

Speaking of my MFA, I earned my degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University here in MN. I also hold a M.A. in Strategic Communication Management. For my B.A. in English, with a minor in Philosophy, I attended Western Michigan University, which is also where my husband attended college.

I have used these advanced degrees to teach at multiple universities in their English and Communication departments. I teach everything from speaking classes, layout and design courses, as well as writing and social media management. I love getting to teach both adults directly applying classroom learning to their work and college students just starting out.