I am Canadian.  Born in Victoria, B.C., Canada, I spent most of my childhood on Vancouver Island. I graduated from high school in Abbotsford, B.C., Canada in 1983 and went on to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Linguistics from the University of Victoria in 1988.  In 1990, I completed a Master of Science degree in Human Communication Disorders majoring in audiology which led to a very rewarding career that spanned 24 years.  During that time, I have had the privilege to work with patients in different parts of Canada, Kuwait, England, and Saudi Arabia.  While in Kuwait, I wrote my first children's picture book And So, Ahmed Hears which was inspired by all of the hearing-impaired and deaf children I have had the immense pleasure to work with over the years.  Eight of my years as an audiologist were spent in Saudi Arabia where, in my role as head of the audiology unit, I was instrumental in helping to set up the communications department at a large rehabilitation hospital.  This was and still is one of the highlights of my career in audiology.

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In 2015, I completed a Master of Education degree in Teaching English as a Second Language through The College of New Jersey. My first teaching post was as an English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher at the International School of Ulaanbaatar (ISU) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  While in Mongolia, I wrote E El Gi Piddr  (republished as Whaaat?) which was inspired by the diverse population of students who were learning English as their second, third, fourth , or even fifth language.  After five years in Mongolia, I relocated to Yaounde, Cameroon, to become the English Language Learner (ELL) coordinator at the American School of Yaounde (ASOY).  I was blessed with yet another rewarding career.  Instead of helping children to hear, I was helping them to speak, read, and write another language.  Communication in any form is such an important part of being human.

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I have two grown children, a son Colin and daughter Marisa, who both reside in greater Vancouver, Canada.  I currently share my home with Kydee and Patches, two female kitties who were adopted in Mongolia. I love to bake to relieve stress and get immense pleasure out of sharing my baking with others.   While living in Saudi Arabia, I self-published a baking book entitled Just Frickin' Bake It.  It is available for purchase on Magcloud. Over 1400 copies of the cookbook were left in Saudi Arabia and any sales are to be donated to the Terry Fox Foundation for cancer research. 

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I love to travel and recent escapades have included hiking the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, riding mountain bikes down Death Road in Bolivia, zip-lining through the rainforest in Thailand, whitewater rafting in Uganda,  and trekking with chimpanzees in Uganda. In December 2018, I had a 40-year dream come true when I spent two hours with the mountain gorillas in Uganda.  Seeing my books in the hands of children around the world is the next big dream I hope to see come true :-)