I was born in Tucson, Arizona where I first discovered two of my passions as a very young girl at the Tucson Mall: shopping and connecting with people.

Building upon the latter of the two, I moved to Phoenix and attended Arizona State University where I earned a degree in social work. I was a social worker in the Washington Elementary School District and helped a lot of children and families, but a feeling that I could be doing more lead me to pursue a career as a criminal defense lawyer.

Several years later, that same feeling started to linger again, so naturally, despite a lot of odds against me, I ran for the Arizona House of Representatives. In 2005, I took office.

A few years later, I found myself leaving the land of "but, it's a dry heat" and heading out east to D.C. for the Taking Back America Conference. I spoke to political activists and elected officials about Arizona Together, a statewide coalition formed to defeat a same-sex marriage ban initiative. And, through working together and crafting strategic messages, we did beat the initiative. Speaking to the way life can be so in synch at times, an editor approached me moments after the speech and asked me to write a book on building successful and lasting coalitions.