Ingrid Ricks started her career as a journalist, spent fifteen years as a marketing/PR consultant and is now embracing her writing/mentoring dream full-time. She is the author of Hippie Boy: A Girl's Story, a coming-of-age memoir; FOCUS, a memoir about her journey with the blinding degenerative eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa; and A Little Book of Mormon (and Not So Mormon) Stories, a collection of short autobiographical stories.Through her partnership with high school English teacher Marjie Bowker, Ingrid recently helped at-risk teens publish their personal stories in a powerful collection titled We Are Absolutely Not Okay: Fourteen Stories by Teenagers Who Are Picking Up the Pieces. That project has led to the launch of WeAreAbsolutelyNotOkay.org, a web site devoted to helping teens connect with other teens through personal storytelling.Ingrid lives in Seattle with her husband and two daughters. When not writing, working with students, or leading seminars focused on embracing the moment, she can be found accompanying her family to soccer games, ice hockey games, or the beach. She also enjoys hanging out at her neighborhood jazz club or alternating between her two favorite coffee shops. For more information, visit ingridricks.com.