My Story

I’ve always been a plant person. And I’ve always been a word person. 

The talking part—that came later. 

First, the plants. I grew up on a farm on Long Island (yes, there are farms on Long Island). I helped my dad in the fields and my mom with her flower beds. I remember when I was real young I gathered seeds from a weed, filled an empty aspirin bottle with some water, hopped on my banana-seat bike and pedaled down the lot road to plant them. I been fascinated by plants ever since. Thank goodness the world has so many of them. 

Words. I was that kid who had an 11th grade reading level in third grade. I wrote a creative essay that garnered an A+++ from a teacher who, by all other accounts, seriously disliked me. Words and understanding their meanings have always been second nature to me.

About the talking. It was never my thing (despite what my mother says). I was deathly shy, hiding behind my mom’s legs until I grew tall enough to eclipse her. Even as a “career professional” I started off not wanting to talk to anyone. That’s a real problem when your job is to interview people. But that changed when I started writing a weekly horticulture industry newsletter and I just wrote what my mind was saying. And people liked it. 

Here’s another truth: AI made it possible for me to pay real attention to the person with whom I was talking once I employed it to capture my conversations. My previously bifurcated mind—one half on pen and paper, the other on what words I could capture—was now fully engaged with my subject. And what a joy it has been to really listen and engage with someone, and still be able to share their stories with the reading and listening audience.