I never had any question that publishing was the arena for me, having grown up loving books, writing bad poetry (my favorite was about a pizza guy), and being fascinated by the way words worked. When I began my job search, my boyfriend at the time was going to journalism school with the daughter of the publisher of Philomel Books, Patricia Lee Gauch.

I remember pretending to read books to my friends when I was a toddler and even before I could read—but I would hold the book upside down! I later remember reading the first three books in the Little House series sitting in my parents’ car on a road trip—reading words I didn’t understand out loud to my Mom. I loved stories of adventure and heroic young girls caught up in strange situations—like LITTLE HOUSE or ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS.

After graduating from college, I attended the Radcliffe Publishing Course and then accepted a job as a publicity assistant at Random House Adult. I joined the Knopf BFYR editorial group in 1999.

I had majored in writing at the University of Pittsburgh and when I decided that I did not want make a career of being a forestry aid, I also decided that I wanted to do something that involved my greatest passion—writing. I began looking into the publishing industry, one contact led to another, and eventually I was put in touch with Nita Taublib at Bantam. Bantam didn’t have any suitable and open positions at that time, but Ballantine did, and Nita suggested I speak with them. I did and the next day I had a job offer.