Topic: Advice

I'm speaking at Google next week.

Ever since they invited me to come give a talk as part of their Authors@Google series, I've been trying to figure out what I'd talk about. I knew I wanted to share my story of how I went from being a lawyer to the happy herbivore, but I kept feeling like something was missing. That a part of my story was left unsaid.

I fell into my culinary career and believe me …

Since becoming an ex-pat full time, I've grown more interested in American culture, at least how it is viewed by people of other nationalities. Given the current political climate, and everything that has happened in the U.S. during the past few months, it's been a rather interesting time to live abroad!

My most interesting realization, however, actually happened through one of my sister's experiences. 

Courtney & I

My sister (who still lives in the U.S.), recently became friends with an …

"When one door closes another one opens" seems to be a repeating theme in my life right now.

A month ago, I launched a project on Kickstarter called "Meal Revolution." The great thing about Kickstarter is that it basically validates your idea. You can use Kickstarter see if your idea or future business will or won't be successful, and without any real risk. 

As it turns out, my idea wasn't so great because my project failed.bummer.

I started this …

I wanted to once again thank everyone for all the amazing comments on my memoir post. One particular comment stuck with me and I wanted to respond to it.

The comment read:

"I'm having a hard time understanding why you feel you can't practice law anymore, particularly since you aced your bar exam. You are probably not the only female attorney who has been sexually harassed!"

The reason I left the law goes far beyond the single instance of sexual …

I've been living in a state where I'm perpetually waiting for the other shoe to drop for years. It's given me anxiety. It's caused me stress and at times, it's taken a toll on my relationships. 

It all started about three years ago when I was let go from my fancy lawyer job after I'd complained about sexual harassment. Losing your job is upsetting but being sexually harassed is devastating. I'd always thought of myself as a strong woman, a woman …