I grew up in the piedmont of North Carolina and developed my love for botany on long walks in old fields and woods with my beagle- learning about jack-n-the pulpits, orchids, beech trees, big leaf magnolia, azaleas, lilies, bloodroot, mayapple, and all the other wonders of old growth eastern hardwood forests.

     I studied philosophy and Japanese at UNC-Chapel Hill before leaving to find myself in wanderings about the south- from Birmingham, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia and back to North Carolina in the Appalachians at Asheville, North Carolina, learning to paint and cook along the way and riding my bike all over the place.

     I ended up on a whim in San Francisco in 1995. I worked for many years as a decorative painter, spending my time wandering the neighborhoods, hills, parks, beaches, mountains and forests of the bay area, while continuing to develop a love of photography. Learning about California native plants, gardening, volunteering at the botanical garden, and my obsessions with orchids and carnivorous plants finally led me back to school at San Francisco State University and a B.S. in botany.

     I went to Ithaca, New York and began a PhD program in Systematics with Cornell and the New York Botanical garden, but ultimately felt the draw back to California and the people I left behind too strong and returned to this beautiful place. Not long after returning to San Francisco I learned I had cancer. While now in remission, I’ve learned that living my life will be a battle I’ll be forever fighting.

     Back in California I began work at the University and Jepson Herbaria at UC Berkeley on the editorial staff of The Jepson Manual of Vascular Plants of California- the book was published in 2012. I continue to work at the herbarium while pursuing a M.S. in botany with my beloved mentors and inspiration at San Francisco State University.