Lori has made her living as a journalist for more than 20 years. She worked for newspapers, including The Des Moines Register, for seven years before moving to magazines. She started as a copy editor for the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications, then moved on to writing and editing for a variety of titles in that same group.

She joined the staff of Country Home magazine in 1998 and became managing editor during the magazine's growth from eight to 10 issues a year. Her favorite project at County Home was heading up the Show Your Colors, America effort, a quilt-making fundraiser for the families of firemen killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

She continues as a freelance journalist, specializing in magazine start-ups, most notably the launch of the Good Ideas! magazine series for Meredith Corp. She also worked on the complete makeover of editorial focus for Creative Kids magazine. Freelancing has given her the freedom to work outside the magazine field, too. She wrote the chapter about collectibles for a book titled How to Buy and Sell (just about) Everything by Weldon Owen publishers in San Francisco .

Lori graduated from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks with a degree in English. In her free time, she enjoys cycling and spending time with her family, which includes two very active boys and a hyper dog.