Where My Story Lives
Books • Publications • Media • Advocacy
Stories can live in many places.
Some find their way onto the pages of a book. Others become essays, conversations, videos, or opportunities to stand beside people whose experiences deserve to be seen and heard.
My own story began long before I understood that I would one day write about it. What began as a personal journey through foster care, adversity, belonging, and resilience has gradually become something larger: an invitation to use lived experience in service to others.
Through books, published reflections, interviews, video, and advocacy, I explore the themes that continue to shape my life and work—resilience, belonging, compassionate leadership, purpose, hope, and the quiet strength we discover when we choose to keep moving forward.
This is where those stories live.
Books & Anthologies
Stories of Resilience, Belonging & Purpose
Books give us the space to tell the stories that cannot always be contained in a single conversation.
My writing is rooted in lived experience—in the difficult chapters as well as the transformative ones—and in my belief that sharing our stories can help others feel seen, understood, and less alone.
Each of these works reflects a different part of that journey.
Featured Book
Forever A Foster Child: A Memoir of Resilience
A story of surviving, becoming, and discovering that belonging can begin within.
What does it mean to grow up without the certainty of a permanent home—and then spend a lifetime discovering where you truly belong?
In Forever A Foster Child: A Memoir of Resilience, I share my journey through foster care, adversity, adulthood, leadership, and the long search for belonging.
More than a story of what happened, this memoir explores what can happen within us when we refuse to allow our beginnings to determine the boundaries of our lives.
Published April 2026
Anthologies & Collaborative Books
There is something powerful about bringing many lived experiences together within the pages of a single book.
Participating in collaborative books has given me the opportunity to place my story alongside the stories of other writers who have transformed adversity, uncertainty, loss, and challenge into sources of strength, purpose, and service.
Mission Hope™ — Volume 7
Finding Strength in Every Storm
Contributing Author
In this collaborative volume, I share two reflections on foster care, resilience, and the strength that can emerge from experiences that once felt impossible to carry.
My Chapters
Chapter 1
The Paper Bag Suitcase
Redefining the Weight of Strength
Chapter 2
From Foster Child to Forever Resilient
The Persistence That Carried Me When Nothing Else Could
Published July 2026
Bestseller Recognition
#1 International Bestseller
#1 Amazon Hot New Release — Spiritual Biography
#1 Amazon Hot New Release — Reference & Collections of Biographies
Mission Hope™ — Volume 8
Passion & Purpose: From Spark to Mission Driven
Contributing Author
In this chapter, I reflect on how experiences of foster care, separation, and the search for belonging gradually became part of a larger purpose: helping others recognize their worth and know that they belong.
My Chapter
When My Pain Found Its Purpose
Discovering That I Was Called to Help Others Belong
Forthcoming
Essays & Articles
Reflections on Resilience, Leadership & the Human Experience
Writing shorter reflections allows me to explore moments, questions, and lessons that may begin with personal experience but often speak to something we share.
My essays and articles explore resilience, belonging, compassionate leadership, purpose, and the ways ordinary experiences can reveal something meaningful about how we live, lead, and connect with one another.
Selected Publications
Guideposts — Angels on Earth
Published Essays
“Questions in the Fog”
Angels on Earth • September/October 2025
A reflection on an uncertain cross-country journey and an unexpected experience of guidance in the fog.
“What the Turtle Taught”
Angels on Earth • July/August 2026
A reflection inspired by an ordinary walk with Mason—and the reminder that sometimes we need to slow down long enough to notice the gifts already around us.
BIZCATALYST 360°
Featured Contributor • Leadership & Resilience
My writing for BIZCATALYST 360°explores leadership through the lens of resilience, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, vulnerability, healing, and the human experiences that shape how we lead.
Selected Articles
Can Resilience Be Taught or Only Learned Personally?
How Can Leaders Navigate Change Without Losing Balance?
Do Mindful Leaders Create More Resilient Teams?
Can Vulnerability Be a Strategic Leadership Tool?
How Do Leaders Rebuild After Career Burnout?
Can Personal Healing Improve Leadership Effectiveness?
Can Emotional Intelligence Transform Organizational Culture and Team Success?
The Blotter Magazine
Literary Essays & Reflections
“The House I Carry with Me”
Forthcoming in The Blotter Magazine • October 2026
A personal reflection on home, belonging, and the realization that the deepest sense of home may be something we learn to carry within ourselves.
“I Chose to Come Back”
Forthcoming in The Dream Journal • November 2026
A reflection on a profound dream experience exploring love, choice, spiritual connection, and the decision to remain present for the life still waiting to be lived.
Video & Conversations
Stories Shared Through Voice & Connection
Some stories are meant to be read. Others come alive when they are spoken.
Through video, I share reflections on resilience, foster care, belonging, leadership, and the experiences that continue to shape how I understand our capacity to grow.
These conversations offer another way to connect—not only with my story, but with the questions and experiences we often share.
Featured Videos
What I Wish Every Adult Knew About Children in Foster Care
What I learned through lived experience about what children in foster care need most from the adults in their lives.
The Child Who Waited
What happens when a child waits—not only for a home, but for the reassurance that they are wanted, remembered, and worthy of belonging.
From Surviving to Leading
How the resilience I learned through adversity became a foundation for leading with empathy, courage, and purpose.
More Stories on YouTube
Explore additional reflections on resilience, foster care, belonging, leadership, and the experiences that continue to shape my journey.
Podcasts & Interviews
Conversations About Resilience, Belonging & Purpose
Conversations create space for stories to unfold in ways we may not expect.
Through podcast interviews and other conversations, I have had the opportunity to reflect on foster care, resilience, belonging, leadership, and the experiences that have shaped both my life and my work.
Each conversation offers a different doorway into the story—sometimes through the lessons of the past, sometimes through the questions we are still learning to ask, and always through the belief that sharing our experiences can help us understand one another more deeply.
Featured Conversations
The Mike Wagner Show
Podcast Interview • August 2026
In this conversation with host Mike Wagner, I share reflections on my journey from childhood adversity to resilience, the experiences behind Forever A Foster Child, and how our most difficult chapters can ultimately become part of a larger purpose.
Advocacy & Community Impact
Using Lived Experience in Service of Others
Stories can do more than help us understand where we have been. They can also become a way of standing beside others.
My advocacy is rooted in lived experience and in the belief that every child deserves to feel seen, valued, and worthy of belonging. Through collaboration, storytelling, and community engagement, I seek to contribute to conversations about foster care, adoption, resilience, and the lasting importance of human connection.
For me, advocacy is not about speaking for others. It is about bringing my own experience to the table in ways that may help create greater understanding, compassion, and hope.
Featured Advocacy
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
Cynthia’s Story
Lived Experience • Foster Care Advocacy • 2026
In this feature for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, I share reflections from my lived experience and the lasting impact that childhood instability, separation, and the search for belonging can have across a lifetime. My hope in sharing this part of my story is to deepen understanding of the experiences children carry with them and the difference caring, consistent relationships can make.
Public Service Announcement & Documentary
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption • Filmed June 2026
In June 2026, I had the opportunity to share my lived experience on camera with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption as part of a public service announcement and documentary project. The filming explored foster care, belonging, and the lasting ways our childhood experiences can shape how we understand home, connection, and resilience. Mason, my beagle, also joined me for part of the filming; a quiet reminder of the many forms that safety, companionship, and unconditional connection can take in our lives.
