About Me
Photo by Manuel Ortega
WHO: Ever since I could read, I’ve been a bookworm. There’s nothing like the feeling of being completely transported to another world without leaving your chair. When I first took a pen to my notebook around age ten, I wrote fairy tales about brave princesses, noble princes, and magical animals . . .
WHAT: Now my “writing” reflects the true stories, in their voices, of MY JOB narrators who’ve lived through experiences beyond my imagination. (Nonfiction exceeds make-believe, in this case.) Having interviewed hundreds of people on five continents, from all ages, genders, and political bents, I’ve emerged convinced that:
- Our early experiences shape our values, prejudices, and worldview.
- Our choices as adults can utterly transform the above.
- What each of us wants and dreams is as unique as our fingerprints.
- What unites us as humans flows through our veins as true as our blood.
When you read the stories of the real people in these pages, you might find yourself far beyond inspired: actually connected to individuals who’ve experienced similar trauma and love, prejudice and aspirations, as you.
WHY: As Gwendolyn Brooks says: “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business.” I say, we belong to one another, far and wide and through time, as kin. And I know that when one single mother gets to launch a startup, when one sharecropper farmer gets to own his own land, when one teenager gets a well-paying job at the local factory, all boats rise: families and communities prosper, GDP (gross domestic product) rises, violence falls, and nations thrive.
Because it’s a tiny thing but I have control over it, I’ve dedicated all author royalties from the MY JOB book series to nonprofit job-creation programs that will continue to get American citizens and our global kin back to work building infrastructure, healthcare, and educational systems, providing goods and services, and nurturing our families and aged.
Every book purchased = funds toward fair-wage jobs.