Interview

• If you and I were on the beach having some wine and great food, what would you tell me about yourself.
  I'll tell you anything... I'm an open book. Beaches and wine and food are nice, but not necessary.
• Name 5 things that you can’t live without.
  my dog
  my dad
  pepsi
  my besties
  a purpose
• If you have to pick one thing that everyone else should absolutely know about you, what would it be?
  I'm a writer, which means I'm an artist, which means I can be incredibly sensitive and, well, bitchy when I feel dismissed.
• What are your hobbies? What do you like to do in your spare time?
  Read, cook, write, play with my dog and annoy my friends with 19th century British poetry.
• How do you go that ‘extra mile' in your life?
  "How" is less important than "why" - I go the extra mile when I'm called to, when I feel passionate about something, and when I feel like my integrity, friends or family need me to.
• What do you do for fun?
  Playing with my pit bull. (And seriously, only doggie racists don't like pitties) I also have a mischievous tendency to comment on other people's conversations.
• Tell us what you consider to be your greatest life experience.
  This is not a happy story - but a few years ago, a close friend confided in me that he had been raped by his boss. I was the first person he told, and I will always be grateful that he felt safe and secure enough to come to me when he needed someone to help him through a horrific period in his life. If I do nothing else in this world, I'll go to my grave knowing I made a difference for him.
• What makes you stand out from the crowd?
  As a former colleague once put it, "the way I move through the world" - you'd really have to meet me in person to understand what she was talking about. Put more simply, I am who I am, and I embrace every aspect of it with an honesty bordering on ruthlessness.
• What are your greatest personal traits?
  Unflinching integrity.
• What is your ‘niche’?
  punk rock poet
• How often do you travel? Do you prefer to travel or you are more of a homebody?
  In my 20's - another lifetime ago - I traveled extensively for work, and now I'm enjoying a period where I tend to stay close to home. I'm also a transplant to LA, so just discovering the hidden gems of my new hometown is all the adventure I need for now. But. I will not meet my maker without having seen Paris and Rome.
• What kind of diet and fitness regiment do you follow?
  I'm not perfect, s'mores pop tarts are my kryptonite. But in general, I don't eat a lot of sugar, and I eat even less processed foods. I cook for myself - usually veggies, rice and chicken for dinner. I lift weights, and I make a point of using the Hollywood Hills as my own personal leg workout.
• What’s your lifestyle? What makes you who you are?
  As boring as it sounds, I eat healthy, I exercise, I play with my dog, I read a lot, I pray (to Gaia, usually), I'm deeply concerned with the state of the world and my own place in it.
• What would you like your followers to know about you that is unique and even a bit personal?
  Well... without getting into specifics that will get me in trouble... I've won a national game show...
• What should others absolutely know about you?
  I'm deeply intuitive, and 100 percent empathic. I can feel the emotions of people around me - something that seriously screwed me up as a kid (I would be sad when the people around me were sad, but since I didn't understand how unique that ability is, it made me question my own worth when I would be sad, and the people around me weren't). But as an adult, I've come to understand that God's blessings are often cold-edged like that, and it's our obligation to see the value and worth in ourselves and in the blessings He bestows.
• What do you enjoy most about yourself?
  My playfulness, bordering on the silly, and my preternatural serenity. Once, my friend's car broke down in the fast lane during rush hour traffic in Orange County. While my buddies were having a panic attack, I was having the time of my life - anything can be an adventure if you have the right mindset.