about me
Growing up, I had exactly one role model of an independent career woman: a character on a tv show. She wasn’t even the main character. She stood beside the leading man in a supporting role. Still, she was always the smartest person in the room and commanded respect for it.
At thirteen, the first character I ever wrote was absolutely a knock-off of her. Whip-smart and fantastic, I loved my strong FMC and spent every spare minute crafting her intricate backstory and hero's journey. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, I looked around and realized that almost all the stories I was seeing centered around a male protagonist. In my teenage brain, that somehow translated to this idea that, if I was going to become a serious writer, I’d have to give up these little girl fantasies, grow up, and write stories that center around men. That first novel was set aside incomplete.
I’m pretty sure the only reason my parents supported my writing dreams was because they thought it was a job I could eventually do as a stay-at-home mom. When I went away to college, the running joke was “Oh, Pearl’s going to college to get married,” and I bristled. I was smart and capable. Plus college is expensive and a lot of work. I sure as hell wasn’t going through all that for an MRS degree.
So I threw myself into learning and wrote about serious, practical things. I developed a diverse group of friends who opened my eyes to the world around me. Eventually, I found myself working for a refugee resettlement agency, doing social media and writing advocacy pieces. It was gratifying work, and I loved it, but something was still missing. Then I took a scriptwriting class and fell in love.
I latched onto the medium and became obsessed, studying old film scripts and watching copious amounts of television. At one point, I even mounted a bulletin board on my closet door so I could cover it in note cards, reverse-engineering a favorite tv episode.
After graduation, I took more specialized writing classes before finally taking the plunge and moving to LA to pursue a career in television writing. In the years since then, I’ve had my ups and downs, successes and setbacks. I found some good mentors and spent a lot of time writing.
I’ve also grown up enough to realize my desire to write about smart women was never the problem. Rather, it was a symptom of larger issues around representation in media. These days, I unapologetically write fantastical stories about diverse, complex women. It's been a full-circle experience for me — a return shaped by the depth of perspective that comes with seeing the world more fully.
