About

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Who is Jennifer Lyn King?

Just Jennifer, really … I grew up in the Southern United States in small towns of Texas and Arkansas, soaking up warm days and reading in the shade of oak trees.

As a young teen, my family moved across the country to Pennsylvania, where I still read books in stacks, but squeezed reading in between practices for the school’s synchronized swimming team. The intense practices paid off, and in the summer of 1988, I had the opportunity to swim with my team in the Olympic Trials. I loved it, noseclips, knoxed hair, sequin suits, and all.

But, entering high school meant another cross-country move, to rural Ohio, where a family friend entered me into a modeling contest because of my nearly six-foot-height. (Reading is good for growing tall, right?) And so at age fifteen, I slipped into four-inch stilettos and worked covers, magazines, and runways with Elite Model Management internationally. I loved it—especially working with designers like Azzedine Aläia and walking runways in Paris and New York City.

Instead of continuing to pursue modeling full-time, I was pushed toward getting a college degree in engineering. So, I traded my stilettos for practical boots and tough classes, to hike across the flatland campus of Purdue University in Indiana. Since most of my classmates were guys, I joined Delta Gamma sorority and lived in the house with eighty other girls. After much hard work, I earned a degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in Spanish. If you ask me what my favorite classes were, they weren’t Thermodynamics or Physics. I enjoyed language, flower arranging, and communications the most.

After graduation, I married my college sweetheart and slipped into black pumps and pearls for a job in technical sales and marketing with a Fortune 500 company. But my deep love for reading and writing finally caught up to me. As we began having children, I stopped working in corporate America, and began writing full-time.

Now, I love taking off with my camera and adventure shoes to explore off-beaten paths with my husband, Brian, and our three sons, ages 14, 12, and 10. We have recently moved back to the USA after 4 incredible years of living in Prague, Czech Republic, on an expat assignment for Brian’s job. Together with a good GPS, we’ve headed off by car to explore unexpected sights and European beauty.

My other interests include reading, oil painting, photography, swimming, skiing, tennis, and playing the piano and viola. But my favorite times in life are the unprogrammed hours, and getting to hang out in the backyard with my family.

I feel passionate to connect with and give back to others. I am a founding member of the new online book recommendation site, Great New Books, found at http://GreatNewBooks.org. And I believe in the missions of WorldVision.org, Kiva.org, and others.

Below, a new 2 minute video, on where I find inspiration for my writing, in my own words: