I grew up in Madison, NJ. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of sitting at a little maple table, surrounded by construction paper, paste pot before me, scissors in hand, telling stories to my stuffed animals. Many years later, I am still constantly creating: writing stories, composing images and my specialty— making messes!

I’ve been hearing impaired since I was 3-4 years old, when I suffered multiple bouts of ear infections, keeping me from hearing all the phonemes in English at a critical point in time. This made it hard for me to learn to speak clearly, and added an extra challenge in learning to read. My learning breakthrough came when I was sent to a reading specialist and a speech therapist. They taught me all those sounds I wasn’t hearing distinctly. So making sure kids hear all the phonemes, the smallest unit of sound in a language, is my “soap box.”

I also have ADHD and am dyslexic. I wasn’t diagnosed with any of these impairments until after grad school, so learning has always been a challenge for me. But as a creative, I consider them my super powers as they allow me to make connections others don’t.

I now live in Caledonia, MI, with perky pup, Zippi D. Doodah, and drummer husband, Eddie Eicher.