Kathy Parsons

Kathy Parsons is an author, sailor, world traveler and speaker. Her books SPANISH FOR CRUISERS and FRENCH FOR CRUISERS have become standard equipment aboard cruising vessels throughout the world. She has lived aboard a sailboat since 1989 and has sailed extensively throughout the Caribbean and Americas. She served in the Peace Corps in Central America and worked on development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her wide-ranging teaching experience includes organizing adult literacy classes, teaching English to Nicaraguan high school students, and providing computer training to businesses and government agencies including NASA. She has an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Both SPANISH FOR CRUISERS and FRENCH FOR CRUISERS benefit from her extensive experience making complex topics easy to understand and apply, as well as her first-hand knowledge of the language needs of world voyagers. Kathy spends most of the year aboard her sailboat Hale Kai but makes time each year to speak at selected boat shows and gatherings. Together with friends Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin and Beth Leonard, Kathy conducts "Women and Cruising" seminars at boat shows, answering questions that women have about the cruising life. Kathy is the founder of the Women and Cruising web site (www.womenandcruising.com) which provides advice, inspiration and resources for women cruisers.