It was one of my heroes, Carl Jung, someone whose philosophy has inspired my life, who said: The world will ask you who you are, and if you don't know, the world will tell you. I want every 17 year old to understand this.
*I am a New Yorker. Sometimes you know where you belong . . . you know with your heart, and you know with your spirit, and in New York City, there are millions and millions of people living in relative peace--it is anonymity, and it is community, all in one, and it is beautiful . . .
*I am an editor, a literary agent, and the owner of Pippin Properties, Inc. Words and pictures are at the core of who I am, and after being an editor at HarperCollins for several years, there were a few book projects I loved that didn’t make it through the acquisitions process. Out of frustration, and out of passion, I opened the doors at Pippin Properties, Inc. in 1998, a boutique literary agency, now located in Bryant Park. It was born from a longing to see stories I loved in print.
Little did I know that Pippin would grow and flourish and become home to some of the crown jewels of the publishing world.
*People sometimes ask me what to do in their lives or careers, and I answer them with this: Find where you feel completely yourself, where you feel welcome, and the rest will follow. I promise you this.
*I am a writer. Working intimately with so many extraordinarily talented authors and artists helped me understand that I’m an artist too, and so in some ways it’s not that surprising that I started writing books. My first middle-grade novel, Matylda, Bright and Tender, came out in 2017 as did Come with Me (a picture book illustrated by my Belgian friend Pascal Lemaitre). In 2019, my second collaboration with Pascal, Listen, was published, and I am so excited to keep on writing my own books and bringing books I love into the world at Pippin. My latest collaboration with Pascal, What the World Could Make, was published on May 4, 2021, and you can order it here and support your local #indiebookstore too!
*I am a poet, and I am making a commitment to working on my craft, a commitment I’ve failed on for awhile now. There are mixed views on the meaning of poetry, for me: it heals. And it is beautiful and reduces the truths of life to their essence. It is an exercise in discipline, bravery, passion, and honesty.
*I am a Democrat. And a fierce advocate for a more equitable world for all. I am working hard to become an antiracist. Growing up where I did, 12 miles north of Utica, NY, four miles outside the town of Holland Patent, population 500, I didn’t understand what this meant. Jason Reynolds’ adaptation of Ibram X. Kendi’s STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING helped me, and I am so grateful to them and their words. And I will always continue making efforts toward a better, more fair world.
*I am a mom of three amazing kids, and I’d do anything for them, unless I feel it would hurt them.
*Love is not finite. There is no end to the amount of love we can give, to things and people and causes that matter.
*I take care of things I love, including my 30 year old Ming Aurelia plant and her 15 year old daughter. I learned by paying attention that they like to be watered every 17 days. Five bottles of water for the mama, and three for the kid. People and plants thrive when they receive what they need.
*I am a dog lover, and am willing to get up in the middle of the night if my dog (Dario) needs me. (Although I prefer sleeping late.) The ashes of my last dog, Zora Rider, will be with me till I am not. I lost her in COVID, and had to say goodbye via ZOOM. That was devastating, and she didn’t know what was happening / didn’t understand the computer screen. My heart will forever go out to people who had to say goodbye to loved ones, virtually or not, during the terrible Pandemic . . . what a horrible horrible way to begin to process the grief, the grief of losing someone, or something, the grief of the world.
And that said, I still have hope.
*I like certain routines, like my planking, nine minutes a day. Planking has bookended my days, every day, for over seven years now, minus about five times when I made up for missing with 18 minutes the next day. And a couple times when I did 27 minutes on the third day. While discipline is important, so is the ability to break away from routine sometimes. It is freeing.
*The pandemic taught me the importance of qi gong, the 18 Lohan sequence, recommended by Roberto Andrade, whose class I have taken twice. I have found that when the body feels good, often the mind does too. After two years of commitment, nearly every night, I feel stronger, and I’m grateful for this ancient practice. I believe in drawing from every culture and practice and philosophy that resonates, whoever you are, to create a life that makes sense.
*I am unconventional. Some people say I’m a unicorn.
*I am curious. But not nosy.
*I love my family and my friends. And I love passing on traditions too, as much as I love recreating them. I love legacy, old and new.
*That said, I’ve learned that sometimes it’s important to love from a distance, in order to preserve one’s strength.
*I will continue working toward a more just and loving world, using all the tools in my arsenal.
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