I have more than twenty years of experience in the book and magazine publishing industries, primarily in customer sales, marketing, publicity and project management. I have worked on numerous award-winning cookbooks with prominent local chefs and have a passion for food and drink. For this reason, I started a freelance business, Put It On My Plate, to work more with chefs, restaurants, bars and food-related businesses by helping them communicate better, grow their marketing opportunities and get a little more organized. I was born and raised in Windward Oahu and attended Kenyon College, a liberal arts college in Ohio, where I received my degree in English. Eager to return home to Hawaii, I finished in three years with Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. My blog, Sugar + Shake, where I chronicle my adventures in food, drink and sometimes travel, was named the Best Hawaii Features Blog in its first year online by the Hawaii Society of Professional Journalists.

I am the co-photographer of the award-winning book From Kau Kau to Cuisine: An Island Cookbook, Then and Now by Arnold Hiura (Watermark Publishing, 2013) and the photographer of The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook: Easy and Delicious Hawai‘i-Inspired Recipes from BBQ Chicken to Kalbi Short Ribs by Adrienne Robillard (Ulysses Press, 2020). Yay me!