Mari was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. From neighborhood play productions to knitting hackey sacks, she always had a creative project going. At age 18, Mari spent a year teaching English in Japan. In college, she was co-editor of the creative arts magazine, studied abroad in Ecuador, and double-majored in Spanish and Global Studies.
She married her college sweetheart, Jim, and they moved to White Salmon, Washington, where she worked as a bilingual financial services specialist for the state welfare office. She began the adventure of motherhood, directed the church choir, started a Spanish school for toddlers. After thirteen years, she left the state job to work on her first novel. Meanwhile Mari was volunteering in the schools so much, she decided to substitute teach, until her youngest graduated in 2020. Now she does the bookkeeping for a small, local health clinic.
Mari’s first novel was published by Unsolicited Press in November 2022, a second one is completed, and she’s working on a third.
