Biography

Donna was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in southern California, where her love of the ocean took hold. She attended UC Santa Cruz from 1974 to 1979, and studied psychobiology. She became interested in orcas when she moved to Seattle in 1982 and started dreaming about them.

In 2002, Donna was a community organizer in the effort to return Springer, an orphaned orca, to her pod. The life-changing experience inspired her to found The Whale Trail, a series of sites to watch whales from shore. She recently served as a member of Governor Jay Inslee’s Task Force on Southern Resident Orca Recovery.

Prior to founding The Whale Trail, Donna had a 14-yr career in software development at Adobe Systems. She lives in West Seattle on the edge of Puget Sound, where she scans the horizon for spouts.

A lifelong writer, Donna spent early years writing poems, stories and plays. Her Op Eds have appeared in Crosscut and the Seattle Times. Orca Rescue! is her first book.

Professional Affiliations
Member, American Society of Journalist and Authors
Member, Author’s Guild
Member, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Selected Writing
Lessons for Lolita from the orca reunion of Springer (Seattle Times Op Ed, 4/16/2023)
Cut the Toxins and Boat Noise, and Boost Salmon, so Orcas Can Survive (Seattle Times, 8/18/2018)
To Help Save Orcas, Pause Whale-Watching (co-authored with Dr. Tim Ragen, Crosscut, 11/23/2020 )