ANN MEDLOCK wears a lot of hats — writer, editor, activist, publicist, speaker, actor, speechwriter, teacher, award-winning Public Radio commentator, and ghost. She's also a social entrepreneur, having founded the Giraffe Heroes Project, a nonprofit organization.

Her background includes editing Viet Nam Presse in Saigon, and teaching in Japan and the Congo. In the United States, she's written articles for Look, The New York Times, The Journal of Commerce, Editor & Publisher, Working Woman, Lear’s, CoEvolution Quarterly, New Age Journal and Education Week, counseled major corporations on using media, developed classroom curricula, and edited the Children's Express news service. She wrote speeches for US political figures, and for the Aga Khan, which was actually fun—almost making up for the dreariness of writing ad copy and annual reports to cover the grocery bills and the rent on her Central Park West apartment.

In 1982, concerned that too few people were participating in public life, she launched the Giraffe Heroes Project, to inspire people to stick their necks out for the common good and give them tools to succeed. The nonprofit has since honored almost 2,000 "Giraffes," and told their stories in every medium that's become available over those decades.

Ann's been interviewed by Time, Parade, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, Good Morning America, Lifetime, and innumerable other broadcast and print outlets. She was named an Education Innovator by the National Education Association for her pioneering work on Giraffe Heroes materials for classrooms. She also won the Caring Institute's Caring Award and has been honored by the Community Action Network, the NW International Women's Conference, and the American Creativity Association.

She's given talks on courage all across the US, and in China, Switzerland, Mexico, Singapore, and Russia. As a Public Radio commentator, she received a First Place Award from the Washington Press Association.

Her focus right now is on the 2022 release of Silence of the Seamaid, her debut novel. The book is a roman á clef, the story of the first half of her own life. Not surprisingly, she has quite a lot to say about that.

Medlock lives with writer and Giraffe Project co-leader John Graham, on an island in the Pacific Northwest, where she's spending her days writing at least two more books, Building With Christopher Alexander and Bread Crumbs, A Memoirish Guide to a Meaningful Life. And, of course, more stories of Giraffe heroes.

If you're an interviewer, or a speech-booker, let us know if you're interested in Ann's work at the Giraffe Heroes Project or as a novelist and poet. Or both. She can happily cover a lot of ground.

If you'd like to review Silence of the Seamaid, you can get a pdf by emailing dromnavarna at gmail dot com.

Personal questions can just go directly to ann dot medlock at gmail dot com.