I am a lifelong Jersey Girl. My career started in 1993, as a reporter at South Bergenite, a weekly newspaper serving 36,000 households in southern Bergen County, New Jersey. I earned some awards doing that, and was promoted to Editor in Chief in 1997, and then to Special Sections Editor for the weekly division of North Jersey Media Group in 2000.

When I was laid off in 2004, I took the opportunity to return to college, graduating with honors from New Jersey City University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Also at NJCU is the New Pathways to Teaching in New Jersey program. I earned a New Jersey Teacher of English certificate in 2007.

I taught English and journalism at three high schools in northern New Jersey between 2006 and 2014. At all three schools, I oversaw the student newspapers and established colorguard (flag twirling) squads.

In 2015, I started Pink Dog Estate Sales LLC with my husband and son. Families hire us to liquidate the contents of their homes, either after the death of a loved one or prior to moving.

Since 1994, I have worked intermittently as a freelance writer, editor and tutor. I worked on a memoir for an immigrant with limited English, a doctoral dissertation on second generation language loss, a coffee table book about successful Indian Americans, and provided several cover articles about world famous musicians for East Coast Rocker and Aquarian Weekly, music newspapers serving the eastern seaboard.

As a tutor, I focus on the upper grades through adult, in the subjects of American, British and World Literature, reading comprehension, and business, academic and creative writing.