​
After getting a Master's degree in English, I did what many people dream of doing--I ran away to join the circus.  For five years I performed trick riding and lasso acts with the equestrian circus show Cavalia, touring the US, Canada, and Europe with an international troupe of riders, acrobats, musicians, and backstage techs. Here is a link to an interview and clip featuring my sister and I on trick riding with Cavalia.  
​
At times I felt completely out of my element and overwhelmed.  I was the girl who read books curled up on the tumbling mats while Moroccan acrobats stacked themselves in impossible piles and French dressage riders worked their Lusitano stallions in the adjoining tent.  ​

But ultimately, the circus made room for me.  
​And I found I had something to offer the circus. 

When I left, I missed it terribly, of course.  

​So I started to write a book about a girl who finds a horse on the side of the road and rides him to a whole new world.

My manuscript CIRCUS GIRL won the SCBWI Golden Gate Award 2018, the SCBWI Spring Spirit general scholarship 2018, the grand prize for UCLA Extension's Claire Carmichael Scholarship, and was featured in Pitch Wars 2017.  Read my Pitch Wars interview and meet my amazing mentor here.