ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. As a child, a pen and paper were my constant companions.

After graduating with a master’s degree in journalism from Penn State University, I spent the next 15 years as a writer and editor for newspapers in New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I moved into corporate communications, but stayed close to my first love of creative writing through personal essays, blogs, poetry, songs, articles and books.

Today, I’m an adjunct professor of communications at Rowan University, where I wrote three books for students and professionals. My children’s books can be found at www.paytonpress.net. I also write song lyrics with singer-songwriter-musician Mimi Cross and continue writing for business leaders.

My latest work is a memoir, currently awaiting publication, the story of searching for my father who disappeared mysteriously when I was a child and the family secrets that followed me into adulthood. I’m also working on a second memoir about college friendships forged in England in the ‘70s and the reunion that never was.

I'm passionate about the health of children, families and the arts. I serve on the Board of Directors for Uptown Stories, a non-profit writing program for children in Upper Manhattan, and as an advisory board member to the Global Centre for Healthy Workplaces. I’m a past board member of the Philadelphia Art Museum and Arogya World, a global nonprofit dedicated to preventing chronic disease.

I dream of changing the world through words, one reader at a time, and hope everything I write will touch someone’s life in a meaningful way.