O, The Oprah Magazine, May 2013
OUT ON A LIMB
For Meryl Marsh, a business trip to the West Coast requires 90-pound gear bags of harnesses, ropes, and cutting tools. How she's preserving tree DNA for the future, branch by branch.

     In California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, Meryl Marsh climbs 200 feet into a giant sequoia – a perch she jokingly calls her office. Using a handsaw, she removes branches from the 3,000-year-old tree and tosses them down to a ground crew. The trimmings will be shipped in coolers to a specialized propagation lab, where they'll be pared down, dipped in a hormonal rooting compound, and placed under automated misters for agricultural cloning. [ read on ]

O, The Oprah Magazine, February 2012
THE LEAP: FROM FUNDRAISER TO CHOCOLATIER
Craving a change, Casey Hickey left her office job for a sweet new career

     Using a long dipping fork, Casey Hickey lowers a truffle called Sweet Heat—made with mango, passion fruit, and habanero chilies—into a pot of molten dark chocolate. The result will be "fruity, with a kick," she says. "I'm fascinated by flavor and what I can do with it."
     Eleven years ago, Hickey's work wasn't so delicious. As director of development for a San Francisco-based medical society, she spent her days in a windowless office. [ read on ]

O, The Oprah Magazine, January 2012
GENIUS IDEA: WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
A photographer captures the joyful spirit of kids with special needs.

     For years Marsha McNeely, a professional photographer who specializes in kids and families, struggled to capture her son's true personality in pictures. "When I took out my camera, Tynan"—who is autistic—"squinted and became rigid," she says. "But I knew underneath there was a kid who loved to laugh."
     With the advice of her son's therapists, McNeely, 39, experimented with ways to make Tynan, now 7, feel comfortable—like offering objects for him to hold or joking from behind the lens. [ read on ]

O, The Oprah Magazine, May 2011
AGE-DEFYING WOMEN
The 52 to 82-Year-Old Synchronized Swimmers: In Sync

     Last summer, retired IBM sales rep Kathleen Richards had barely recovered from chemotherapy when she strapped on her waterproof iPod, cranked up the Abba, and plunged into the pool at her health club in Hudson, Ohio. "I couldn't wait to get back in the water," she says. Richards, 64, is part of synchronized swim team In Sync, whose members range in age from 52 to 82. “I had no hair and a skinny spaghetti body, and could hardly put one foot in front of the other, but I thought, "I’m going to do that ‘Dancing Queen’ solo!" [ read on ]

O, The Oprah Magazine, February 2011
LOCAL HEROES: GIVING VOICE
The founders of the Rebecca Project help vulnerable women and girls speak truth to power.

     Sitting in her Washington, D.C., office last spring with two victims of sex trafficking, Malika Saada Saar could barely believe what she was hearing. "They described how they had been sold on Craigslist," says Saada Saar, founder of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights. "At that moment, I committed to do everything I could to end this." [ read on ]

Washington Parent, January 2010
CHANGING KIDS' LIVES ONE STEP AT A TIME
A Day in the Life of Marc Sickel

     A child with fragile X syndrome learns how to ride a bicycle and gets to participate in a family bike ride. A boy who dislikes movement and resists exercise becomes a championship wrestler. An autistic girl learns how to throw and catch and becomes uninhibited about joining games with her siblings.
     These are just a few of Marc Sickel's success stories. [ read on ]

Washington Parent, May 2009
GIVING VOICE TO MOTHERS AT THE MARGINS
A Day in the Life of Malika Saada Saar

     It's a busy Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill, with staffers, visitors and lawmakers rushing through the corridors. Amidst the chaos, a group of parents and children from Missouri and Iowa walk through the historic halls of Congress, their shoes echoing on the marble floors. Malika Saada Saar escorts them as they head to a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Though she is on the Hill daily laying the groundwork for hearings like this one, today is different; Saada Saar feels for these families as they prepare to share private experiences in a very public forum. [ read on ]

Washington Parent, September 2008
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MILITARY MOM

     It's a warm April afternoon at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County, Virginia, and Captain Montgomery of the Maryland National Guard surveys an ammunition shed. The sparse 8’ x 8' wooden structure contains shelves of ammo and fired rounds. But this 5-year veteran of the Guard is seeking electricity, not bullets, needed to power a key piece of equipment. Fellow soldiers are asked to leave once an outlet is located, and Captain Montgomery’s assistant stands guard outside the rickety door until the mission is completed. [ read on ]