Senior Designer, Travel Book Author
It was a dream come true when I finally landed a job at a company whose books had changed my life. Having traveled through southeast Asia and Mexico in my twenties with my trusty Lonely Planet in my pack was really the only way to go. When I found out that Lonely Planet had a bustling office in Oakland, fate delivered me to a very exciting job, first as a Senior Designer for the website, and later as a full-time travel writer.
Senior Designer
I provided essential graphic design, information architecture, and html production for lonelyplanet.com. I redesigned the homepage, online shop and virtual community. The website, which received upwards of 30,000 unique visitors each day, won two consecutive Webby awards for Best Travel Site during my tenure.
Travel Book Author
After four years of sitting at a desk in Lonely Planet’s Oakland HQ, I couldn’t resist making the move to become a full-time travel author. So I hit the road for the company, and over two years I crafted nearly half a million words for eight guidebooks: Jamaica (sole author); Great Smoky Mountains National Park (lead author); Puerto Vallarta and Mexico’s Pacific Coast (lead author); Caribbean Islands, USA & Canada On a Shoestring, and three editions of the best-selling guidebook Mexico (contributing author).