I have always tried to make sense of human behavior.

As an only child with a pathologically overprotective mother, I was usually on the periphery of social interactions, the observer. I formalized this interest in social observation with undergraduate studies in psychology and sociology for a BA from Wellesley College.

I had an awful job straight out of college

working as a placement consultant for a staffing firm in Beverly Hills. (Objectively speaking, not an awful job, just a really bad fit for me). And who in Beverly Hills actually needs a job anyway? This experience led me to pursue a

PhD in counseling psychology at UCLA with a specialization in career development.

I’ve since spent 30+ years as a career counselor and 9x published author of prescriptive non-fiction. I’ve worked at Barnard College and Georgia Tech, been on the adjunct faculty at NYU, and spent 13 years in career coaching and leadership roles with global consulting firm Right Management. Since 2019, I’ve been full-time in my private practice Careers Uncomplicated, with clients all across the U.S.

I’ve had some pretty amazing experiences in this profession (not even gonna claim these are humble brags)…

Summoned by the King of Jordan to train career counselors in 20 universities across his magnificent nation-state. Presented to President Bill Clinton’s transition team at the White House on my research at Columbia University regarding students’ attitudes toward community service. Spoke about Gen Z across the U.S. and at the Future of Work Summit in Stockholm. Signed books and gave a talk on the same program as Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, in the Borders bookstore of the World Trade Center when the twin towers still stood. And, in 2023, received one of the highest honors in my profession—the Outstanding Career Practitioner Award—from the National Career Development Association. It’s been a fascinating and fulfilling ride.

I now run my practice and write from a little red office cottage behind my 1880 house on an island in Maine in a bay of the North Atlantic Ocean. Rescue dog snores under my desk (like a dragon). Clinical psychologist husband Zooms away with patients in his home office. Meanwhile, way down South but close in my heart, my old soul of a Gen Z daughter appears as an extra in TV and film is apprenticing to be a death doula.

In 2016 with a DNA discovery that rocked my world, I knew it was time to take my longtime but idle love of creative writing more seriously.

I went on to complete a 60-week certificate program in creative writing at Emory University and now spend every spare moment writing about my journey to grasp family secrets and acclimate to being a totally new person at the deepest cellular level. Completing No Finer Place and getting it into the hands of as many readers as possible—to inspire, entertain, and provoke thought—is now my life’s mission.