• Free-lance writer, editor, & public speaker
• Coordinator & leader of cultural travel programs abroad
• Ability to convey complex information to non-specialists; multilingual communications skills
• Extensive experience with niche markets in diverse fields:tourism, indigenous arts, specialty coffees and foods, publishing
• Successful collaboration with local and international non-profit and non-governmental organizations
• Facilitator of cross-cultural cooperation
• Commitment to dialogue and activism in support of worldwide biological and social diversity

TRAVEL CONSULTING

1984-present:

• Coordinator & leader of cultural travel experiences in the Middle East, Mediterranean, & India for universities, museums, alumni groups, & individuals.
• Specialty: tours of rural and urban Turkey

WRITING, EDITING, and LECTURING

Food Columnist
• La Gazzetta Italiana, Italian-English newspaper.
Editor and co-author
• AlmostItalian.com an online cookbook and culinary history.
• Sarasota Soundings a weblog on food, culture, & identity.

1971-present:


• A variety of reviews, articles, and photography on multicultural topics, including agriculture, food history, arts, and travel for these and other publications:

Antiques—Arab Perspectives—The Christian Science Monitor- Garden Design—Gourmet—Hali (The International Journal of Carpets & Textiles)—Journal of Gastronomy—Los Angeles Times—Mediterraneans.

• Assorted proceedings of the Symposium of Food & Cookery (Oxford); International Food Congress (Istanbul).
• 1990: Wrote the "Islamic Art" curriculum guide for New York State high school teachers.
• 1993: Author of Turkish Tapestry, A Traveller's Portrait of Turkey; Bosphorus Books
• 1994: Wrote "The Meyhane or McDonalds? The Evolution of Fast Food in Istanbul" for Culinary Cultures of the Middle East; I.B. Tauris (London)
• 1996: Wrote the historical introduction to Istanbul for Istanbul: The Hali Rug Guide (London)
• 1998: Keynote speaker: Turkish Ministry of Tourism Conference on Handicrafts. Slide lecture for multinational audience on the importance of craft preservation and development in the contexts of rural community stability and tourism.
• 1999: FIRST-PRIZE WINNER for "Sustainable Agricultural Practices," Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Award for concept paper on a coffee-based mutual fund to provide credit to small-holder coffee farmers and micro-enterprises within their communities.

1992- 2005:


• PUBLISHING and importing multicultural titles; proprietor of Bosphorus Books.

Ongoing:


• Frequent talks and slide presentations on the social and natural environments, arts, & cuisines of Asia and the Mediterranean for both academic and non-academic audiences.
• Programs for the Smithsonian Institution, Christie's, University of London, U.S. Navy, Turkish Ministry of Tourism, Whole Foods Market, and other organizations.

• Product design & procurement of Asian crafts for Primitive Artisan (importer of crafts from developing nations).
• Owner of retail shops dealing in antique and contemporary crafts, carpets and textiles.
• Crafts marketing advisor for the Development Foundation of Turkey, an NGO focusing on rural development; conception and set-up of DFT's non-profit retail crafts shop in Ankara, Turkey.
• Commission from the American Museum of Natural History (New York) to collect and document ethnographia in the Sultanate of Oman.
• (Artifacts collected are on permanent display in the Museum's Hall of Asian Peoples.)
• Study and documentation of the date-palm (Phoenix datcylifera) in pre-industrial Middle Eastern societies.
• Pre- & post-project assessments (including environmental impact issues), skills transferals, and/or written proposals for sustainable production, micro-enterprise development, & craft preservation in-
• Hungary for International Executive Service Corps (IESC)
• Bahrain for Bahrain Ministry of Labour & US Information Agency
• Kenya, Jamaica, Haiti, Venezuela, & Morocco for IESC
• Uganda for Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (VOCA) and National Association of Women's Organizations of Uganda (NAWOU)
• Haiti (native coffee & crafts exports) Institut Interaméricain de Coopération pour l'Agriculture (IICA)
• Bolivia (indigenous textiles) Domestic marketing advice and museum development for Antropologos del Surandino (ASUR); project facilitated by ACDI-VOCA

SKILLS

LANGUAGES (in order of proficiency):

FOREIGN RESIDENCE & TRAVEL

EDUCATION