A nursing education has been a passport for the author to a world of eye-opening experiences, unexpected opportunities, and never-ending learning. She has worked in several hospitals in a variety of positions. She has had articles published in national medical and nursing journals. Selecting guests, she produced and hosted a public affairs television interview program that focused on health issues and has also coordinated programs for high school students about hospital careers. 

Because hospitals where she was employed served a significant patient population whose first language was not English, she witnessed the tremendous value of bilingual and trilingual employees for patients, hospital staff, and families. This furthered her drive to spark young readers’ curiosity about healthcare careers. 

Having found a very old ledger in a dark corner of her home’s basement, she deciphered the filigreed handwriting and was stunned to discover it was a Civil War diary maintained by a young sailor in Farragut's fleet. Through the courtesy of the Naval Postgraduate School, she used its library to corroborate entries, and she transcribed and published it as Yeoman in Farragut's Fleet.