My career began in marketing and advertising, working with an advertising agency in Phoenix, AZ. I managed the AZ Taco Bell account and four Doubletree Hotels located in the Midwest and across Texas. After five years, I opted to use my Masters degree and teach. I coached every sport each season in order to make up for the difference in salary at the time, but soon caught up and loved the things I learned about my students by being their track coach, cross country coach, softball and volleyball coach, as well as a freshman basketball coach one season. I also led the Speech and Debate teams and directed several plays in my years as an English teacher at the secondary level. After completing my PhD coursework at the University of Pennsylvania, I returned to AZ to teach and became the Director of Staff Development for the Tempe Union High School District. While there, I joined a group who developed and implemented a joint Masters program between the TUHSD and ASU. I taught in this program for several years and my Teacher as Researcher course grew so popular, the university awarded me all of the Educational Research classes on campus and off. I love teaching. From my career in Tempe, I was asked to join the staff at Intel one summer as a tech writer, and Motorola hired me the next summer to do the same thing: work with a team of engineers and take their writing, turning it into something understandable to all readers, not just to other engineers. Further, I was to take my experience in the world of computers and high tech fields and urge young women to explore careers in math, science, and engineering. While doing all this, I remained in the classroom each morning and taught public speaking during summers and evenings in the Maricopa County Community Colleges for over ten years. In 2000, I took time out to raise my child and be a stay-at-home Mom. I've never stopped writing. For the past few years, I have substitute taught at a few local schools.