• Professional background
• Teaching and guest speaking
• Freelance writing for publications
• Testimonials

Professional background

I became self-employed in 1996 after a long career as a top editor and writer. I worked for newspapers, international magazines, a book publisher and a city magazine, all in executive positions.

My last job as an employee was as editor-in-chief of Books That Work, an interactive publishing company that created award-winning 3D home design CDs such as 3D Landscape and Visual Home. The Hearst Corp. was a primary investor. One of the books I managed won a National Literary Marketplace Award for Technical Achievement and Innovation in Book Publishing.

While editor-in-chief of a city magazine, the magazine won several awards, including a national award from the City and Regional Magazine Association. While editor of an international magazine, I grew circulation from 80,000 to 210,000 in three years by attracting a larger audience. As executive editor of a second international magazine, I grew circulation from 30,000 to 80,000 by repositioning towards a more general business audience.

I have also worked in public relations. I was vice president of Madison Fielding, a Los Angeles public relations firm specializing in print publicity for its national clients, which included Re/Max and Informix Software.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with honors from California State University, Northridge; An AA Degree in Journalism with honors from Langara College, Vancouver, Canada; and completed a class on creating business plans at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

For 9 years I was a board member and former president of the Alameda Country Community Food Bank.

• Culinary Legacies Panel: A Conversation with Chuck Williams and Friends
• "Get Your Book Idea off the Ground," The Writing Salon, San Francisco
• "How to Write a Book Proposal," The Writing Salon
• "How to Identify Audiences for a New Publication,” The Folio:Show, a national magazine show in New York and Los Angeles, 1996-2001
• "Feature Article Writing," for the San Francisco Professional Food Society Editors and Writers Special Interest Group (SFPFS SIG)
• "Great Query Letters," for SFPFS SIG
• Two-day writing seminar for dean and teachers of a private school.
  

• Salon.com
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• Gastronomica magazine
• Pittsburgh Magazine
• Better Life Monthly, a national magazine in China
• The Vancouver Sun
• The Express, a Bay area weekly newspaper
• The Publishers’ Marketing Association
• Oracle magazine and Profit magazine
• Sunset magazine.