Overview

My professional journey began in 1984 as a computer word processor operator and supervisor. After three years of successful corporate world work in downtown Chicago (the final two at Sears Tower's flagship bank), I moved on to fulfill a lifelong dream.

Growing up as the daughter of Hungarian immigrants, my frequent trips to Europe to visit relatives ensured a lifelong love of travel and exploration; becoming a domestic and international flight attendant with a major airline was the greatest of personal and professional joys.

The career offered wholly unique communication lessons and opportunities: I honed my public speaking abilities, sharpened my business interaction style, and learned to relate to many types of people and situations in both relaxed and emergency situations.

And, of course, I explored many corners of the world.

After 15 years of award-winning service, the events of September 11 would change the nature and direction of my life's work.

Retiring from American Airlines in the fall of 2001, I embarked upon a mid-career change becoming a returning college student and a freelance new media project manager, graphic designer and web developer.

I led a team of five student designers to win bronze in a national web design contest in 2005. Also, as a budding writer and journalist, I won awards at both Rock Valley College and Northern Illinois University (including the Illinois Journalist of the Year-Student Scholarship in 2008).

My studies and energies turned to tackling more serious challenges in the world five years ago, using social marketing skills to good effect.

The power of new media and focused attention quickly molded me into a nationally recognized citizen journalist, public speaker and advocate for our nation's veterans. It also brought the opportunity to write my first book, Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, which was published in 2007, the same year I was called to testify before Congress regarding my efforts.

In 2009, I graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Journalism, receiving NIU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans' Award for Journalism; the Communications Studies Program Outstanding Major Award; and the Kappa Tau Alpha Top Scholar Award.

Accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Journalism & Mass Communication graduate program in 2010, I will ramp up studies in Science, Health and Technology Communications.

Thank you for your interest in my work,