I’m a Columbia‑educated writer and lifelong observer who spent years in New York working in crisis communications and for nonprofits. I also built a career interviewing people from every walk of life — celebrities, doctors, business owners, athletes — learning what makes people open up and what makes a story worth telling. It looked impressive on paper, but life had other plans. When both of my parents became seriously ill — dementia for my mom, a multitude of soul‑crushing issues for my dad — I left Manhattan and returned to Northern California. Overnight, I went from media briefings to sorting medication.

Walking with them through those final years changed me. I saw how wildly people can behave at funerals, often showing the best and worst of humanity in the same moment. I learned what makes a great celebration of life (spoiler: it’s not awkward eulogies or bad coffee). And I learned that humor can save you, even when nothing else does.

Holding Space grew out of that heartbreak, the absurdity, and the belief that honest words and quiet support matter more than platitudes. The grief cards, journals, and books I create are for the people we love, the losses we can’t explain, and the moments the greeting card aisle will never understand.

When I’m not writing about grief, I’m probably cooking, losing at game night, or watching classic films while fighting the ongoing battle of who really runs my house: me or my cats Stoli and Borracho.