As far back as I can remember, I have loved books. Before starting kindergarten, I learned to read by listening to read-along records on a plastic toy record player.  My mother would take my sisters and me to the Bookmobile every week, and sometimes, as a special treat, to the large public library in downtown Reno, Nevada. It has multiple floors around a central atrium and plants everywhere you look, with the faint sound of waterfalls throughout. We would all choose a stack of books, head home, and sit down to read right then. (I still love to do that!)

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After excelling in the language arts throughout my school years, in 1991 I earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Oregon State University in Corvallis. During my studies I worked as a Writing Consultant/Peer Tutor at the Writing Center, where I helped fellow students from freshmen to Ph.D. candidates develop their writing. I also interned at Calyx, an independent journal of art and literature, which introduced me to publication production. I soon landed in California and took a couple of copyediting and proofreading courses through UC Berkeley, practically memorized the Chicago Manual of Style, and did a bit of freelance work on college textbooks, which led me to an entry level job as a Production Assistant at Brooks/Cole Publishing Company in the Monterey Bay area (now an imprint of Cengage Learning). I felt so at home in the production department. After a lifetime of loving books, I was helping to make them—and actually using my English degree!

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After a couple of promotions, I became responsible for hiring and managing the various freelancers involved in bookmaking, along with approving designs for book covers and interiors. I found an introductory graphic design night class, hoping it would help me better evaluate the various designs that came across my desk. That class turned into a four-year-long education in the now defunct Graphic Design and Visual Communication program through UC Santa Cruz. Seeing the big visual picture of a project helped me coordinate its parts more efficiently and speak with more authority about the decisions I made.

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By 2001, I was a supervisor of the production department and, after passing my portfolio review, had completed my design education. I designed a couple of texts while on staff, but Brooks/Cole closed the Pacific Grove office in 2002, and I went out on my own, armed with great professional relationships and a strong sense of budget, schedule, and how to maneuver approvals through many levels of management!

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In the years since, I’ve worked for a variety of clients doing all sorts of design work, from posters and presentations to direct mail and social media, some of which you’ll see on this website. I love a text-heavy project—newsletters, information sheets, and of course, books—and I love making sure all the details are in place, whether I am copyediting, proofreading, designing, or typesetting. Over the years I’ve stayed firmly in the “growth mindset” of continuing education, seeking out online and classroom opportunities to learn about web design, e-book creation, social media, and many different software programs. I've studied the art of indexing, completing the prestigious UC Berkeley course in 2017. 

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I live on the central California coast and feel so lucky that I get to see the ocean every day.