Background: Lisa will share her experiences in advancing, through determination, will, luck and academic pursuits, to achieve academic, social, and financial success. Lisa can also share her experiences in the pursuit of writing and her personal development in the craft of writing. A former correspondent for the Philadelphia Theatre Review and Features Editor for the Picolata Review, Lisa currently writes freelance and by invitation in literature and the arts. Her literary interviews include Charles Baxter (Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature 1997) and Lee Martin (Pulitzer Prize Nominee 2006). Lisa is the President of Pennwriters (www.pennwriters.com), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting the novice to award-winning and multi-published writers to learn and succeed in the craft. She is the founder of the Pennwriters King of Prussia Critique Group and the Philadelphia Critique Group. She is also the founder of the Philadelphia Writers Workshop. Lisa leads workshops on business communications at writers conferences. Lisa has been interviewed by Jade Blackwater of Brainripples as well as by local media. She has been featured at the Fresh Lines @ Fresh Nine, a public reading of up and coming Philadelphia writers hosted by Gross McCleaf Art Gallery. Lisa is an alumnae of The Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Squaw Valley Writers Workshop, Kenyon Writers Workshop, University of Pennsylvania's Conference for Writers, and the Rittenhouse Writers Group (RWG). Her short stories have appeared in 63 Channels Journal and The StraightJackets Magazine. Lisa is a graduate of Drexel University and received her MBA from Pennsylvania State University. She has received academic awards and scholarships from both institutions. No stranger to the spotlight, Lisa's initial flirtation with celebrity was as a dancer on Dancin' On Air, and a dancer and co-host on Dance Party USA. She lives in the Rittenhouse area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit: http://www.lisadianekastner.blogspot.com http://www.pennwriters.com Suggested Interview Questions: What do you feel were the key factors in your success? What advice do you have for new writers? If you could identify key traits a writer needs to succeed, what would they be? Do you have any recommendations for young adults in following their dreams? What was it like growing up in the country's most dangerous city? Do you feel an advanced education was integral to your success? Why? How did coming from a creative environment help you? You work for a corporation but volunteer for a not-for-profit. What are the differences? How have you found your experiences in each sector benefited you in the other? Contact Telephone: 610-235-9626 Email Address: lisadkastner@gmail.com Guest Location: Pennsylvania Guest Time Zone: Eastern