“Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are.” Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
What is a connector? Malcolm Gladwell describes connectors as people who want to share what they know, bring together people with common interests, and help make everyone more successful. Tom Peters (and Seth Godin, I suspect) call us “evangelists.” Either way, some people are driven to connect people with ideas for business, leadership, food, wine and travel. Who am I? I’m a student, a creator, a leader, a publisher, an entrepreneur, a writer, a wine lover, an artist, and a traveler. Come to think of it, we’re all travelers. Welcome to the journey.
Oh, wait, you wanted to actually know who I am? Growing up in the wind and sun of the Oklahoma Panhandle, I finished at Oklahoma State University taking a terrific job I’d created at Stan Clark Companies. What happens when you get that technology publishing opportunity you can’t turn down? You move to San Francisco! It was an exciting time to be there as the Internet and WWW came into being along with the first tech/web boom. We were living in the future excited about what was to come speaking a language of video conferencing, distance learning, bandwidth, and tech IPOs like Yahoo! And while tech was taking off, I moved to traditional book publishing because it was always something I’d wanted to do, starting as a development editor and working my way up to acquisitions and later senior editor while traveling the SF, Indianapolis, New York trade routes. After nearly 10 years in the Bay area, and every experience in video and audio conferencing, online education, trade shows, events, print buying, PR, magazine writing, web development, content design, book editing, interactive media, and author management (as well as food, wine, and sailboat racing), I transferred to a division in the great midwest.
Now living in Indianapolis and after 25 years in the publishing world, I work with clients directly on publishing projects and business consulting. (More at LinkedIn.) In 2014, my father died so I took a crash course in estate disposition, trusts, and farm and ranch management. I co-own our family farm in Texas with my sister growing wheat and cotton. As a woman in agriculture, look for an upcoming project with another friend of mine who also inherited her family farm.
I was fortunate to have parents who set an example every day of giving back to communities they loved. I serve on several boards including the Indianapolis Arts Center and as a national director for the Chaine des Rotisseurs. (I’ve also done turns on the boards for iMoca and Indianapolis Opera.) I learn from these experiences every day, and thought I’d pass a few ideas along to you, too.
What’s next? It’s time to find out!
Use the Contact form for my business bio, my not-for-profit leadership bio, my magazine links or if I can help you make a connection.
