Bio

She was sixteen, and it was her first Cotillion Ball in her rural Mississippi hometown. The pictures would be spectacular, her in a stunning white gown and her dapper date (a real-life rodeo cowboy) in a rented tuxedo and his best boots. Nobody thought about the mud . . . until her heels slipped in the muck and she landed in a sloppy mess at the bottom of the hill.

A career in spin — writing, politics, and communications — was just a matter of time.

 

 

Words are my wheelhouse — journalist, editor, writer-for-hire, communications professional, problem solver.

I write stories that people read, speeches that get their attention. I investigate behind the narrative, finding hidden implications and what’s not told. I find your salient messages through the clutter and move the needle.

In my journalist hat, I write about everything from education, urban development, and business to travel, lifestyle, family, and domestic violence. And more. I’m a regular contributor to Hawaii Business, the Star-Advertiser publications, AAA Hawaii, and Inside Out Hawaii, and a freelance contributor to the Atlantic, Full Grown People, Noodle, and various other national publications and websites. I recently wrapped up the latest edition of Fodor’s Oahu guide, focusing on where to eat and where to stay.

My communication consulting hat puts me in the middle of everything from Fortune 500 crisis management to crafting messaging and collateral for not-for-profit capital campaigns. Communications plans, strategic plans, collateral, web content, advertorials, RFPs, speeches, annual reports —I’ve written them all.

My career began in the United States Senate, working on the Senate floor for then majority leader Senator Howard Baker.  I went on to run the state government relations program for the American Forest and Paper Association, juggling spotted owls and recycled content, then tackled Fortune 500 issues like olestra and endangered species as a senior vice president at The Hawthorn Group and as Washington office managing director for R&R Partners. After moving to Hawaii in 2003, I did the entrepreneurial thing, founding Two Wahines on the Beach, a luxury vacation homes property management firm that raised the bar for client service across the region.

Now, I write.

I also make time to tutor college–bound seniors with college essays. It’s a pro bono gig —I like how they think.

I’m a strategic thinker, storyteller, and on-the-ground operative focused on details, outcome, and results. I’m not good at keeping the seat warm and keeping my thoughts to myself.

The Other Stuff: I skydived a lot in my 20s, and sometimes I still dream about it. Now my passions are more subdued —cooking, lounging on the beach, traveling, bingeing on a new show, reading a good book. I’ve traveled across 50 countries with my two teens, bathing elephants at sunrise in Laos, swimming with whale sharks in Western Australia, and trying to decipher the oddities of French washing machines in Europe.  We’ve been successful at two of the three. Now home in Honolulu, I compulsively check airfares.

Oh, and I love to laugh.