With over twenty years of teaching and school administrative experience, Kristen spent nine years teaching middle school where she pioneered a School-to-School program connecting her students with students in rural East Africa. In 2005, Kristen was awarded a scholastic grant and became the first Westerner to live in Sauri, Kenya. Kristen's middle grade book, A Calf Named Brian Higgins, was published in 2018 by Red Chair Press and has won several awards, including: American Legacy Book Awards: Pre-Teen Fiction Winner; Literary Titan Book Awards: Literary Titan Gold Award; Nautilus Book Award: Gold Level, Middle Grade Fiction; and Northern Lights Book Award: Gold Level, pre-teen cultural category. Kristen is an Adjunct Professor at Sacred Heart University where she teaches First Year Writing Seminar. Kristen holds degrees from Boston College and Teachers College, Columbia University.
