Born and raised in the big small town of Bethlehem, PA, my dreams of traveling the world and writing formed at a young age. I always felt I would live somewhere exotic but somehow I managed to attend college, start my career and settle down with the man of my dreams just miles from the house I grew up in. Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with numerous opportunities to travel the world and have gotten so much inspiration from observing other ways of life and seeing how values change from one culture to the next.

Professionally, I’ve spent the past six year searching for the perfect job. I’ve worked for a gamut of companies from small start-up ventures to Fortune 500s, selling everything from vaccines to virtual worlds. I’ve had some glamorous experiences along the way: lunches with Alec and Billy Baldwin, an awards event with the cast of The Sopranos, an impromptu meeting with Tommy Hilfiger; some intense ones too: teaching a room full of doctors about immunology (what do I possibly know about immunology that they don’t?!), holding my breath as I demoed beta software for a room full of business execs, and training classrooms full of young, hungry sales reps how to sell. What have I learned from it all? That there’s no such thing as the perfect job. Each has its ups and downs but I’ve learned many valuable skills – and pushed myself beyond what I thought possible – along the way.

Despite all of the amazing things I’ve gotten to do in my professional career, I’ve had a deep desire to write since I was a little girl. Like most writers, I wrote my first book at 5 or 6 years old. It was a story about a little girl with 18 brothers and sisters who all had to share one bathroom (talk about conflict!). I always looked at the world with an inquisitive eye and was that (annoying) child that incessantly asked why? I’m a big believer in living your life and doing the things you desire. On my first date with my husband, he told me that he had always wanted to try skydiving. I had always wanted to, too. So, guess what our second date was? 

Over the years, I’ve met many smart, capable people who are unhappy because they hate their jobs but are too afraid to go after what they really want in life. I can relate to these people because I’ve been one of them. That’s why I decided to launch Beyond the Gray, to inspire and motivate people to go after the things they really want in life. I also run a travel and lifestyle blog, Journeys, write travel articles for The Savvy Explorer and am a guest blogger on Lehigh Valley InSite.