Experience

Bay Area Book Festival

• United States
• Civic and Social Organizations
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Founder and Executive Director

  • Jan 2013 - Present

  The Bay Area Book Festival is one of the leading literary events in the U.S. and is admired worldwide. As Northern California's biggest literary weekend of the year, each Festival features 250-300 acclaimed authors (from Bay Area, nation, and world) across 100 events in a dozen venues throughout Downtown Berkeley; 10,000-20,000 people attend each year. We're known for our focus on social justice, strong inclusion of BIPOC authors and women's voices, international scope, and presentation of top award winners and bestselling writers. The 1,600+ authors we've featured include Kazuo Ishiguro, Tracy K. Smith, Viet Thanh Nguyen, George Saunders, Nnedi Okorafor, Lars Kepler, Richard Flanagan, Masha Gessen, and many more. The most recent festival (May 7-8, 2022) featured 250 authors including Rebecca Solnit, Douglas Stuart, Frances Moore Lappé, Jasmine Guillory, and Jokha Alharthi, winner of the 2019 International Booker Prize, flying in from Oman. Some of my leadership tasks: • Curate intellectually challenging, highly creative programs featuring some of the world's most groundbreaking authors. Collaborate with many publishers -- large, small, domestic, international -- to secure and place authors. • Manage a dynamic organization with staff, consultants, and volunteers working under tight resources and deadlines. • Structure opportunities for philanthropic giving and sponsorships; personally secure the majority of the organization's funds; steward donors and sponsors. Also create earned revenue strategies. • Work regularly with local, national, and international literary organizations; establish active relationships and partnerships. • Partner with our CMO to create marketing plans; collaborate with our PR firm; work with major media sponsors. • Write and edit across many formats; determine the organization's voice. • Serve as the festival's public face; speak locally and globally on behalf of literary culture. Next year's fest: May 6-7, 2023



Women Lit

• San Francisco Bay Area

• Founder and Director

  • Jan 2018 - Present

  In the wake of the #MeToo movement, I founded and continue to lead Women Lit (womenlit.org), a membership-based program of the Bay Area Book Festival. Women Lit elevates women’s voices by presenting year-round events featuring female-identified authors, and also connects book-loving women through an array of resources and opportunities. Our many events have taken place virtually and at beautiful Bay Area venues. Dozens of speakers have included Gloria Steinem, V (Eve Ensler), Terry Tempest Williams, Leïla Slimani, Rebecca Traister, Rachel Cusk, Patti Smith, Ann Patchett, Sue Monk Kidd, Helen Macdonald, Eimear McBride, and many more. While most Women Lit members are in the Bay Area, we now also have members worldwide.



Self-employed

• Berkeley, California and many other places

• Writer (Fiction)

  • Jan 2000 - Dec 2022

  Current project is a literary novel, much of it set in Asia, now in its third full draft. Current project is a literary novel, much of it set in Asia, now in its third full draft.



Freelance Writer & Editor

• All over world

• Travel Writer; Book Reviewer; Essayist

  • 1995 - 2022

  I've traveled extensively around the world and have published travel stories, literary essays in travel-related publications, and book reviews and roundups. Outlets include the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Truthdig.com, Traveler's Tales, Ozy Media, etc. Travel writing specialties: Tibet, where I've traveled several times in very remote regions; Nepal, which I know thanks to deep involvement in a local foundation; India, where I've visited and stayed often over the past 15 years, including regular participation in the Jaipur Literature Festival; Thailand. Other favorites: Trans-Siberian Express across Russia and Mongolia; Bali; France; Sweden; New Zealand; Zanzibar. Book reviewing scope: fiction, memoir, travel, spirituality (especially Buddhism), literary criticism, cultural criticism, essays.



Strategic Communications, Inc.

• President

  • 1995 - Jan 2014

  I've raised tens of millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations, from foundations, individuals, corporations, and the government. I've specialized in journalism projects but also have consulted to universities and with environmental, social justice and health organizations. Clients have included the Center for Investigative Reporting (see below); EdSource; the Maynard Institute; the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the USC Annenberg School; the Center for Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College in New York; and the Keck School of Medicine at USC, among many others. I think of fundraising as matchmaking: I bring together people with shared goals and complementary resources so they can do more together than they could do alone.



UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

• Assistant Dean for Advancement

  • May 2013 - Oct 2013

  During this short term, I helped the school rebuild its development function and create a development plan. During this short term, I helped the school rebuild its development function and create a development plan.



Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting

• United States
• Online Audio and Video Media
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Director of Development and Strategic Initiatives

  • Apr 2008 - Nov 2012

  I was instrumental in building CIR from an organization of six people (when I began as a part-time consultant) to a powerhouse with nearly 80 full-time employees over five years. As the chief development director, I was responsible for securing a total of $14 million during that time and developing numerous journalism initiatives that these dollars supported, including a launch into video, major national investigations, documentaries, and more. I worked closely with foundations, individual donors, community-based organizations, and CIR's board, volunteers, and staff. I instituted new systems, hired and supervised staff, helped build the board, and transitioned the organization's database, all while bringing funds that kept CIR growing and making impacts with its work. In early 2012, CIR was honored with the international MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, with a $1 million grant, because of our growth and impact. I also was involved with the complex merger of CIR with The Bay Citizen, a local journalism nonprofit, which brought together two development spheres and created a new organization under the CIR banner. I had the pleasure of helping to build the nascent nonprofit journalism movement nationwide. I took part in numerous conversations with funders and journalists, helping bridge the two disciplines (philanthropy and journalism spoke completely different languages) to achieve mutual goals. I was an invited speaker at SXSW Interactive in 2013 to talk about building great nonprofit journalism organizations.