Lisa Schamess is a project leader, manager, strategist, and longtime advocate for understanding the history of landscapes and places, as well as storytelling to support stronger communities. She is a manager, editor, and writer of considerable range, from creative writing to public policy journalism, currently focused on cross-platform content and copywriting.She has worked with public- and private-sector organizations such as the American Association of Geographers, Congress for the New Urbanism, US Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, Urban Institute, Enterprise Community Partners, Council for Professional Recognition, American Institutes for Research, Smart Growth America, the Ford Foundation, American Institute of Architects, The National Building Museum, and Applied Storytelling. Her areas of knowledge include social justice in the context of post-industrial cities and transitioning economies, education, sustainable transportation, and the built environment.Her first novel, Borrowed Light, was published in 2002 by SMU Press and won that year’s Texas Institute of Letters prize for Best First Novel, along with a nomination for Best Novel of the Year from TIL. Borrowed Light was also a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize. She has published in Creative Nonfiction, Modern Loss, and Defunct. Her columns on grief and family appeared at Beliefnet from 1999-2003. She has also taught writing extensively in college classrooms, online, and in nontraditional, nonacademic settings to adult audiences. Her teaching skills are adaptable to both online and in-person training and curriculum development.Specialties & Interests: architecture, urban design, urban affairs, neighborhood and community engagement, diversity and social justice, popular culture, literature, creative nonfiction, fiction, teaching, English composition. Languages:Some Spanish (written and spoken) and French (mostly written).Profile photo: White woman smiling out at you, laughing a little. Petruzzo Photography, http://www.petruzzo.com/Background art: Neon installation on the Onassis Stegi's exterior in Athens, Greece, by artist Tim Etchells. The words read in all caps: "All we have is words. All we have is worlds." Photo by Alexandra, Unsplash