Although my parents are from Chicago, they moved west just in time to insure that I can legitimately claim that I am a native Californian. I arrived a mere 3 weeks after their relocation to the Los Angeles Area. My two younger sisters and I grew up in South Pasadena, California, attending Marengo (Elementary) School, South Pasadena Junior High School and South Pasadena High School. In 1983, I moved about 400 miles north to attend Stanford University. I graduated from Stanford in 1988 with a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Sociology.
At Stanford, I met my husband, Evan, when we were dorm mates (ask him about the infamous shoelace story). And, although we did eventually move off campus, we have lived in and around the Stanford/Palo Alto area ever since. Evan and I dated for, what our family and close friends insisted was, "nearly forever" before our engagement in 1989 and wedding in 1990. Our son, Josh, was born in 1998 and has kept us on our toes ever since.
After graduating from Stanford, I helped in a variety of research and grant writing projects and eventually got a job at the Math and Computer Sciences Library (back at Stanford), where I had worked as an undergrad. I was, in theory, just filling in the position for a short time, replacing a friend who was returning to medical school. However, in the nature of so many things "temporary", this short-term employment lasted for over 7 years.
In 1995, I switched gears slightly, moving into the publishing side of the college textbook industry, and joined the editorial department of the Computer and Engineering division of Addison-Wesley Publishing (later Addison Wesley Longman, now Pearson Addison-Wesley). My first stop was in Computer Engineering, where I got a crash course in managing the wisdom, egos (and often incomprehensible writing style) of textbook-authoring college professors, combined with the economic realities of the upper level, technical textbook market (i.e. high production costs, high overhead, small specialized markets and constant complaints about why books cost so much - to make and to buy). Later, I was switched over to Mechanical Engineering and spent about a year supporting a new boss, who had come directly from sales and had little prior experience with the detailed points of technical writing, editing, production, technical project management, art file manipulation or other editorial department responsibilities.
With Addison Wesley Longman's acquisition of Harper Collins Publishing in 1996, our Computer and Engineering Publishing (CEPUB) group inherited a whole additional product line of Mechanical and Civil Engineering titles, including texts on Structural Engineering, Construction, Reinforced Concrete and Steel, Fluid Dynamics and Water and Air Pollution (topics with which our division had little previous experience). I, along with yet another new boss, was given the challenge of merging and integrating these books with Addison Wesley Longman's existing product line (and convincing their authors that this was a good thing).
In 1999, Addison Wesley Longman closed its California-based Computer Science and Engineering divisions after (yet another) merger with Prentice Hall Publishing. Since that time, I have turned into a (mostly) full-time mom and have moved the editing and tech writing part of my career to the back burner, although I do consulting and freelance work on a per-project basis when I can. A partial list of the projects I was involved during my time at Addison Wesley Longman can be found on my Brag Shelf.
Page last modified Wednesday, April 30, 2003 11:16 PM