In 1971, after I graduated from Emerson, I pleaded with my parents to send me to Hollywood Professional School (HPS), not Uni, since at that time I was skating and training in ice dancing six hours a day. Hollywood Professional School’s school day was catered to young people in entertainment, the arts, and sports, so instead of graduating from Uni, I graduated from HPS in 1974. I went on to train in figure skating in Colorado Springs at an Olympic level training center and went to Colorado College and medaled at the national level in ice dancing in 1975. I left competitive skating in 1977. I moved back to Southern California and moved to Long Beach after I graduated from Colorado College in 1978 and met and my husband Dan Farris in Long Beach that summer. We married in 1979 and had a “hippie like wedding” and we lived in a commune the first three years of our marriage right in Long Beach! I earned a California Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential at Long Beach State at the end of 1982, but because of my small size I was “too chicken” to teach school, so I began coaching skating in early 1983. I coached skating in Brea, Costa Mesa, and then Paramount where I directed the skating program. In 1988, Dan and I left Long Beach and headed to San Francisco where Dan worked in the Haight Ashbury and I coached skating in San Mateo. At the end of 1991, we headed to Colorado Springs where we have lived ever since. I coached skating in “The Springs” starting in 1991 and became About.com’s Figure Skating Expert in 2006. About was a wonderful 10 year “gig” and I even got sent by that company to cover figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! Unfortunately About laid off all of its writers in 2016. I am the author of five books: My first book was HOW TO JUMP AND SPIN ON INLINE SKATES. My autobiography, “My Skating Life - About My 50 Plus Years of Skating” is the book I’m most proud of. Dan and I have three adult children who were all high level skaters and professional performers. I spend most of my time these days traveling, skiing every day while staying in our cabin in Sun Valley, Idaho, and hiking and scootering. By the way, the hardest thing I ever did was climb Mt. Fuji and I still skate!
