Karen Haddigan has been a TV comedy writer, amateur actor, tree-planter, real estate agent/investor, single mother and professional mediator. She was a senior instructor in a Conflict Resolution program at the Justice Institute of BC, Canada, for seventeen years, where she authored a training manual for mediators (no, that's not meditators, MEDIATORS).

Karen became involved in community theater in the 1970’s, studying acting with Ronnie Gilbert (of the folk music group The Weavers). She subsequently acted, directed, produced and wrote several plays for a variety of community theater groups in British Columbia, Canada.

After moving to Vancouver, BC, Karen studied comedy writing with Danny Simon (Neil Simon’s brother) at the University of British Columbia, as well as screen-writing and video production at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She then went on to become a writer for a CBC comedy sketch show.

She now lives in Santa Barbara, CA, where she honed her skills in memoir writing at UCLA, and with authors such as Jen Louden, Dale Griffiths Stamos and Catherine Ann Jones.

Secrets is Karen's first published memoir.

Debi Helm (collaborator) is an entrepreneur and networking maniac. She owns a design business in Santa Barbara, has flown around the world with the rich and famous, is a rule-breaker, loves thrift stores and isn’t afraid to invite Robert Plant and Jimmy Page to her house for pulled pork. She’s always looking for her next project and after trying online dating, came up with the idea that has become Secrets.