avg_rating: 4.06
name: Katherine M. Lawrence
about: According to the Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2015, Katherine M. Lawrence may very well have originated the widely used term, "glass ceiling."Currently her Yamabuki series is about a woman samurai who breaks through a ceiling in ancient Japan to become an accomplished warrior, but without losing her humanity.The author first became interested in Japan while growing up in Seattle, Washington, and at a young age having several playmates who were Japanese-Americans, Japan seemed natural and accessible. Fascinated by the beauty and elegance of Japanese art, architecture, and style, she grew up with a growing appreciation for Japanese aesthetics.For several years, Katherine M. Lawrence has been researching and writing the adventures of Yamabuki According to the Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2015, Katherine M. Lawrence may very well have originated the widely used term, "glass ceiling."Currently her Yamabuki series is about a woman samurai who breaks through a ceiling in ancient Japan to become an accomplished warrior, but without losing her humanity.The author first became interested in Japan while growing up in Seattle, Washington, and at a young age having several playmates who were Japanese-Americans, Japan seemed natural and accessible. Fascinated by the beauty and elegance of Japanese art, architecture, and style, she grew up with a growing appreciation for Japanese aesthetics.For several years, Katherine M. Lawrence has been researching and writing the adventures of Yamabuki, an actual historic female samurai who lived in the Heian Era of Japan. Inspired by several decades in the martial arts halls led by women: as a martial arts student in residence for four years at the Ja Shin Do Academy both in Boston, Massachusetts, and Santa Fe, New Mexico; the San Jose State University Kendo Club; and Pai Lum White Lotus Fist-Crane in Albany, New York, style Katherine set out to write about the experiences of women who train in warriors skills...and Yamabuki in particular.Katherine graduated from the University of Washington with a BA degree in both History and Chemistry, and continued with work on a Masters in History at the Far Eastern and Slavic Institute. She also graduated with an MBA from Harvard. For several years she provided consulting services for the Japanese firm, Kaneka, helping them with their marketing efforts in the United States.In her undergraduate and masters degree work she developed an appreciation for the different mentalities and mind-sets of people in other eras and other cultures--for the assumptions of 21st century Americans are very different from late 19th century Europeans, let along people of other cultures in by-gone eras.When she is not writing, she is the CEO of Pingv, a leading Drupal development shop.When she finds any additional free time, she pursues motor sports, cooking authentic cajun food, studying advanced mathematics, trying to beat the computer at chess, and eating all the sushi she can find. ...more