Jo Goodman is a licensed professional counselor who works with children and families in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. She has always been inspired by the strength, perseverance, and courage that children show on a daily basis. Goodman feels privileged that the children trust her enough to tell their stories to her, the ones that only they can tell. Her work as a counselor has a significant impact on her writing, as she often draws inspiration from the resiliency and courage of the children she works with.
In her early years, Goodman discovered her love for writing when she began creating stories as a child. She would cut out models from the Sears catalog to illustrate her first family saga, and by seventh grade, she had written a melodrama about two orphan sisters, one of whom was pregnant. Goodman's supportive parents encouraged her to pursue her passion for writing, and she eventually went on to graduate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. However, her plans to become a marine biologist were derailed when she realized she suffered from seasickness.
After graduating from West Virginia University with a master's degree in counseling, Goodman began working with adolescents and families as a childcare worker and later as a therapist. Currently, she is the executive director of a child caring/mental health agency. Goodman finds that her work and writing often complement each other, with one grounding her in reality and the other offering a break from it. She lives with her family in Colliers, West Virginia, and continues to write romances that reflect her experiences and the stories of the children she works with.