In that year, after 10 years teaching writing and literature in the public schools of San Francisco, Stephanie traded in the blackboard for the keyboard and accepted a contract from Open Road Publishing to write Israel Guide, a 600-page guide to Israeli history, culture, cuisine, and travel. She followed up that project with two more travel books--Jerusalem Guide and San Francisco Guide-before turning her attention to other genres of writing.

In 1996, Stephanie became Amazon.com's Expert Travel Editor and Expert Reference Editor, responsible for writing book reviews and monthly columns about travel and reference publications. At the same time, Stephanie began freelancing for national magazines on a wide range of topics: everything from the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents through guide dog training to the delights of horse-drawn carriage rides in California's Wine Country to healthy cuisine for the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Stephanie developed her interest in writing and travel in Caldwell, New Jersey. She edited and wrote for the high school literary magazine, and her application essay won her a highly coveted spot as a summer foreign exchange student in Sri Lanka.

Stephanie's writing also opened Early Admission doors to Wesleyan University, where she continued to study writing with mentors such as Annie Dillard, Phyllis Rose, and Tony Connor. She attended university London during her junior year, traveled from Crete to Morocco to Scotland during vacations, and earned her Wesleyan BA in Psychology in 1981, with an English minor.

Stephanie's interest in travel has remained robust--in 1986/1987 she spent a gritty, heavenly 15 months traversing Malaysia, Thailand, China, Tibet, and Nepal, ending up in Turkey for a month before finally returning home to San Francisco to teach.

She returned to academe from 2000 through 2003, serving as Assistant Principal, Student Services Coordinator, and Academic Counselor for a private K-8 school in San Francisco, then resumed freelance writing in the summer of 2003, with an emphasis on essays and health/well-being journalism. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including More, Psychology Today, and Reader's Digest.

After 25 years in San Francisco, Stephanie and her husband now live in Boonville, in Mendocino's beautiful Anderson Valley. She still roots for the Yankees, and returns to New York periodically for the pizza and bagels.