What if you had the chance to experience the hero’s journey? 

As a storyteller, I’ve always been fascinated with the monomyth and the seemingly endless possibilities for its application.  I write a wide range of narratives, from creating content to tell the stories of local businesses to writing fairy tales to sharing personal childhood stories. My current position with The Salvation Army allows me to write content for a variety of audiences and channels, presenting a solid brand and creating a voice for the often overlooked social services provided to our local community. As a program mentee in Sorenson Communications Compass Program for Children of Deaf Adults (CODA) I am taking written stories and creating stories in American Sign Language using the visual vernacular. I currently have pending stories for publication in academic, creative and non-fiction genres. 

Above all, I am enamored with books; writing what will someday be a published novel, reading a range of genres, and collecting a vast number of science fiction and fantasy paperbacks. I spend most of my money in second-hand bookstores and far too much time digging through boxes and looking over shelves of thrift stores and garage sales. 

As a Writing and English Literature at Grand Valley State University, I graduated with the distinction in writing and the undergraduate research/creative scholars distinction. Through my scholarly research with the GVSU Library Summer Scholar’s Program, I had the opportunity to study the monomyth’s structure as well as examine many of the ways this framework is being applied to everyday situations. I built upon this knowledge through the McNair Scholars Program, researching the memetic evolution of fairy tales, their narrative structures, and their use in postmodern and current day examples  of fairy tales.  During my coursework I took that in many different avenues from visual art, creative writing, non-fiction writing, and presentations. My coursework built upon skills I developed in the professional sector, allowing me to round out my portfolio. My work at GVSU emphasized my ability to create attention-grabbing, informative narratives that can be shifted for a wide range of audiences and multiple platforms of production and dissemination. 

I am a mother of two teenagers and an elderly cat.