IPP Authors

Anessa Arehart, author of Finding Everyday Magic and Learning to Lean on Myself, is a trauma-informed author, guiding individuals to inner resilience and spiritual integration. With compassion and practical tools, she helps readers heal and find empowerment from life’s challenges. Visit her website: https://www.anessaarehart.com/

Rob Baugh, author of My Life Rewired, is a southern Indiana native who discovered a passion for music at age four, though life’s challenges have pulled him away from it. A traumatic brain injury altered his dreams of opening a bakery, but he found new purpose through his podcast, Life Rewired, raising awareness about brain injuries.
Visit his website: https://myliferewired.com/

Parul Bhandari, author of Shine a Light on Diwali and Celebrate All Colors, is a woman born in the U.S. to first generation immigrants from India. Growing up, culture and rituals, especially around Diwali and Holi, were anticipated and celebrated with the community.
Visit her website: https://www.parullbhandari.com/

Lisa Carey, author of Living in the Moment on Nature’s Time, has been fascinated with photography since she was young, which resulted in her minoring in photography in college and a career in print advertising fine tuned her visual eye. After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, raising three children, and then surviving cancer during the Covid pandemic, Lisa found that diving back into photography was just what she needed and found it a distraction she loves.
Visit her website: https://lisabethcarey.com/

Lisa Conway, author of Shocked, shares her journey through over 100 shock treatments, the depths of despair, and the unexpected sources of healing that led her back to herself. With a Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Psychology and Spanish and Master of Social Work, Lisa worked with the elderly and disabled, abused women and children, people battling addiction, the homeless, and had the privilege to work with the dying and their families at Hospice.
Visit her website: https://authorlisac.com/

Amy Figgs, author of Upgraded to Chronic, began blogging and writing poetry as a way to process trauma and grief and found a small audience online. With the encouragement of lovely friends and family, she pulled together her debut collection of essays and poetry: Upgraded To Chronic. When she is not writing or working her day job, you can find her wandering through nature or enjoying time with her son and friends. Her status remains “No Evidence of Disease.”
Visit her website: https://upgradedtochronic.com/

Cat Felts, author of Jude's Best Worst Day Everand Tina and the Mysterious Case of Dance-Itis, is an avid runner, she finds the best time to mull over a book concept is during an early morning jog. Formerly a technical support team Director and degreed Bioprocess Engineer, she felt the call to write and continue the legacy that her grandmother (Catherine Clark the 4th) and mother (Catherine Clark the 5th) passed down to her. She hopes to make a positive impact on children and families as they immerse themselves in her stories.Visit her website: https://catherineclarkfelts.com/

Feryn Heath, author of The Adventures of Peighten and Gingerbread, is a licensed therapist in the state of Arizona. Professionally, she works in the field of addiction, specializing working with individuals who struggle with process and/or substance addictions. Feryn, mom to two young daughters, wanted to use her passion for writing to create a book series that they would enjoy, while also being able to use her therapy background to teach children coping skills.
Visit her website: https://peightenandgingerbread.com/

Josephine Kilde, author of Josephine, founded Imani Yako in 2002, along with her husband Scott, which focuses on humanitarian works. Their current project, Imani4Change, is based in Kenya, working with the Maasai indigenous communities in a 10-year community development and capacity building focus, with the intent of imparting the community with skills to run and manage the projects developed in the 10-year span. The greatest needs in the Maasai communities are access to water and to education. For more information about their humanitarian work please visit www.imani4change.org. 30% of sales of Josephine’s publications go to support this humanitarian work.

Laura Kimbro, author of Giving Light to Darkness, is not an expert on brain injuries, concussions, or anything health related for that matter. She is “just” a mom who wants others to be aware of what can happen as a result of an accident. She sits in a hard place in reliving the death of her son for the sake of bringing awareness to this issue in hopes that others will find the help they need in their time of crisis. She did not want this responsibility, but takes it on in order to bring Seth’s voice to as many ears as possible.
Visit her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.kimbro

Dr. Karen Kramer, author of Healthy Grief and Moving Forward, is a grief recovery expert who has transformed the lives of hundreds-of-thousands of individuals around the globe since the early 1990s. With a profound understanding of the human mind, her true passion as a mindset coach, speaker, and author lies in helping navigate heart-wrenching losses, griefs, and traumatic events.
Visit her website: https://drkarenkramer.com/

Janet Kurtz, author of The Heart of My Soul, was born to and raised by a United Church of Christ youth pastor and a third-grade teacher, both from small villages in northern Illinois. Roots ran deep in the culture of farm fields and trapping in the back creeks, Protestant work ethic, and empathy for the stranger in the land. These traits manifest in her lifelong career teaching Spanish and Latin American cultures, working with refugees, translation, and leading student travel study.
Visit her website: https://janetkurtz.com/

Amber Lohret, author of Invisible, has bravely navigated the challenges following a brain injury. Her journey of self acceptance and discovery led her away from her previous professional life and towards new ventures that not only facilitated her recovery but also provided support to others on similar paths. She aspires to inspire and aid others facing similar struggles by sharing her experiences. As a devoted mother of four, Amber’s resolve has been fortified by the need to provide stability and hope for her children amidst personal adversity.
Visit her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amber.lohret

Moya McGinn Mathews, author of Honoring Loss, Growing Through Grief, has logged thousands of hours teaching students of every level, from absolute beginners to advanced teacher trainees, students of every age and stage of life, including those suffering from arthritis and other conditions of chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and those navigating grief and loss. She has worked in parish ministry for more than 40 years and has supported hundreds of bereaved people on the journey of grief and loss.
Visit her Website: https://moyamcginnmathews.com/

Mary Ellen Miller, author of Secret Sorrow, is a Registered Nurse who holds national board certification in Public Health Nursing. She has over thirty years’ experience as a nurse educator, retiring from DeSales University as an Associate Professor. Her book is the first offering non-grandparents concrete ways of coping with their sorrow, including communication and self-care strategies.
Visit her website: https://nongrandparent.com/

Meghan Neri, author of Just One Bite, has been a food allergy mom for more than 14 years. In 2017 she co-founded a food allergy support group called SAFE (South Shore Allergy Families Educating), a support group aimed at connecting caregivers and working to increase awareness and education in the community. She founded an education and consulting business called Food Allergy Allies (foodallergyallies.com), with a mission to increase the safe inclusion of food allergic individuals through intentional education.

Kathleen Schonauer, illustrator of the Harmony Meets the World series and author of Harmony Meets the World Coloring and Activity Book, is mother to TwinPens. For 30 years she taught children and adults from kindergarten through college, and is now a full time author, artist, and poet, working in many media including collage and jewelry design.

Erin K. Schonauer and Jamie C. Schonauer, authors of the Harmony Meets the World series, are an identical twin writing team and award-winning authors. Their work has appeared in children's magazines, chapter books, the nonfiction book market, and has been internationally produced. The sisters have been writing together for over 10 years and especially love writing for children. Visit their website: www.twinpens.com

Anders Shafer, author of Poems, Written and Painted, is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, where he was the Max Schoenfeld Distinguished Professor. He taught painting, drawing, and illustration for 43 years. A practicing professional artist, he has works in many museums including: The Smithsonian, the Allen Museum, Portland Museum of Art, and the Sheldon Museum. He has won over a hundred awards and been in countless exhibitions. His best known book is The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel, published by Dutton’s Children’s Books, New York.

Ariel Shafer, author of Mother Nature's Apron, was born and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She likes watching TV and movies, reading books, and listening to music. 

Barbara Shafer, author of This is My Name, is a painter and dancer who lives with her husband, also a painter, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She has two grown daughters. She studied Sculpture and Drawing, at the Rhode Island School of Design, receiving a BFA and Painting at the University of Cincinnati, receiving an MFA. She has taught in the Art Departments at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and the University of Wisconsin Stout. For 29 years, she was the Executive Director of The Arc Eau Claire: Advocating Rights of Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities. Inc.
Visit her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbara.shafer.988

Jean Skeels, author of Before You Go, is a death doula, life coach, yoga teacher, writer, and mother. She has been teaching, presenting workshops, and working with individual clients for more than two decades. Jean is passionate about creating transformational experiences and opportunities for deep personal inquiry. She connects people to their own wisdom and empowers them to lead intentional, passionate, and joyful lives.
Visit her website: https://beforeyougolegacy.com/