Behind Her Smile: The Adventures of a Tall Girl from WVA and Her Life as a Stewardess shares with readers your experiences of growing up near poverty and taking a leap of faith, and getting a job that allowed you to see the world and changed your life dramatically. Why was this an important book for you to write?

I really wanted to share what may have been “Behind the Smile” on the Stewardess whose flight they were on. I felt it was important for future passengers to think that there was more to their Stewardess than just a pretty face. And he or she may be going through some challenging things in their lives regardless of the fact that they were there to interact in a positive way with their passengers. And I hoped to encourage my readers to “Keep the faith!” regardless of what might seem like insurmountable circumstances.

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

Just to know that regardless of the smile on their Stewardess’s face they could have just had a challenging occurrence in their personal lives that they had to put on “the back burner” to be able to go out on that airplane and maintain a positive attitude for their passengers. As I shared a story of a fellow co-worker who had just spent the night with her former husband thinking they were about to possibly get back together to wake up to a note on her pillow stating “Fooled you again didn’t I?” She had to come to work on a three day trip after having gone through this the night before she was scheduled to fly.

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

Actually the most difficult thing for me to write about was my relationship with Wendell Ladner, the Professional Basketball player that I had an affair with for over three years. I was not brought up to ever consider doing such a thing. However I was in a loveless marriage and did not have a fulfilling relationship with my husband at the time. I had never experienced a passion like the one I shared with Wendell. But the absolute most difficult thing was to have to relive and share what happened to Wendell, on of all things, an airplane. To say my heart was broken into is an understatement!

What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?

I hope that my readers will be encouraged to believe in themselves regardless of circumstances that may say “NO” to their dreams.