"We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to."
- W. Somerset MaughamOnce upon a time, I read everything I could get my hands on. As a child, I drove my parents nuts by demanding more and more frequent trips to our local library. Reading seemed to help with my insatiable curiosity. And then I began to write. I published my first newsletter, called the Orinda Gazette, when I was eight, and also taught myself to type that year. Fortunately the invention of the word processor came shortly thereafter.
College was Journalism School of course. Following my graduation from the University of Wisconsin, Madison I began to look for a publishing job. I did manage to land an amazing job but, with the necessity of supporting myself in San Francisco, took to the marketing side of the business and have been creating targeted communications ever since.
Living in the Silicon Valley, it was an easy and logical segue into high-tech. During the 10 years I worked in-house, I managed Forte Software's marketing communications program, was part of the initial OpenVision Technologies marketing team and handled lead generation programs at Electronics for Imaging. The first three years of my career were spent at International Data Group, Inc., the publisher of PCWorld Magazine.
Since founding Deliberate Communications in 1999, I've used my love of language and compulsively detail-oriented project management skills to provide communications consulting services and project management to clients in: high-tech, education, law, waste equipment manufacturing and publishing. I approach every project with energy, enthusiasm and an astute sense of what messages will work in a given situation. In 2005 I published my first book, Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Grow and Keep Your Business Relationships, co-authored by Thom Singer.
When I'm not working I knit, take tap dance lessons, read cookbooks and volunteer in my daughters' classrooms. I also enjoy cleaning my friends' closets and organizing their kitchen shelves.
For projects that require two or more talented professionals I partner with Kilowatt Marketing, ROAR Events Group, Intended Outcomes and Cognoscenti.