I’m so excited to be a newly minted San Diegoan. I was raised in Boulder, Colorado, and earned my bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Minnesota. After college, I moved to New York City, where I worked as an assistant editor at Penguin Publishing. I later earned my master’s degree in education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. Over the years, I’ve taught middle and high school students in Brooklyn, Denver, and Berkeley. I come from a family of authors, and I’m the author of the YA novel Lost Girl Found, which tells the story of young women who escaped the civil war in South Sudan. One quotation that guides me is from Toni Morrison: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I’m passionate about writing—and about helping students find their own authorly voices. I have two grown children and one “dog child” named Oreo. In my free time, I enjoy listening to podcasts, doing art, yoga, hiking, running, and watching scary movies.