I grew up in Burbank, California, only a stone’s throw from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. While friends had posters of movies stars and rock idols on their walls, I had pictures of places I wanted to visit. The Matterhorn and The Eiffel Tower adorned my closet doors until I moved away for college, and I still have the bulging, creased manila folder with the label 'Places To See' that I started when I was 16 years old.
Writing, like travel, was in my blood early on, but I didn’t realize it. At a young age, I wrote plays and stories with my neighborhood girlfriends, and interviewed neighborhood celebrities like the postman. We even wrote our own 'mad libs' that made us laugh hysterically for hours. It was my father, an accomplished television writer, who encouraged me to pursue writing as a career. 'If you wish to be a writer ... write!' He advised. Like any good daughter, I waited another 10 years to heed this advise.
After university and a stab at corporate life, I came to my senses. I worked as a reporter for a weekly newspaper for several years, and began freelancing for various online and print publications in the US before moving to Europe in 2004.
I am a regular contributor to Tampa Bay Illustrated Magazine, a lifestyle magazine in Tampa, Florida that indulges my wanderlust and lets me write travel related features 2-3 times per year. It was on assignment for TBI that I fell in love with the journey and the destination. Not hard to do at the foot of a 500-year-old castle in an ancient priory overlooking the Dordogne region of Southwestern France.
Since then, I have made a hobby/career of traveling and writing about people, places, and food. My articles have appeared in various online eZines as well as in Together Magazine, BThere Magazine, and Executive Travel Magazine. I have also completed a culinary travel book about the Dorodgne region of France that will be released by Running Press in April 2010.
Visit my expatriate blog, A Broad In Belgium (
www.abroadinbelgium.com) that follows observations and perspectives as an expatriate in this fabulous city.
