Bio

Lisa Snider is a freelance writer living in Ojai, CA. She was brought to Ojai from the Four Seasons San Diego by the Ojai Valley Inn in early summer 1999 where she served as a junior executive. After a total of 15 years in hotel management, she intrepidly jumped off the glamorous roller coaster of celebrity, Champagne, and Egyptian cotton linens in 2003.  Looking for an opportunity to learn something new, do something more meaningful, and work less than 70 hours a week, she took a job in the public sector.

Lisa grew up in the rural backcountry of San Diego County where her keen appreciation for small town life and a passion for writing were first nurtured. So it was only natural that it was love at first sight when she came to Ojai. The quirkiness of the town and the eccentricities of the hotel business have given her much fodder for writing. Lisa has a passion for writing, particularly in a local format, and has found her voice in self-deprecating humor. Her publishing successes include several local print media, a national writing award, assignments with Santa Barbara Wine and Dine magazine, the Sierra Club’s local paper, the VC Reporter, Ventana Monthly, 805 Living, and a regular column in Ojai Quarterly. One of her most rewarding projects, writing, producing and directing the award-winning documentary, The Price of Paradise, yielded her first foray into filmmaking.  Lisa has also written a handful of plays, including Millennium Dreams, a comedy, and Wind River Redemption, a drama. Her newest play, Finding Ojai, - based on her forthcoming novel - debuted at the Santa Paula Theater Center June 1-17, 2012.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science from Cal Poly University, Pomona. She volunteers from time to time for local non-profit special events. She and her husband, Bill, enjoy dinner with friends, vacations abroad and playing fetch with their rescued teenage Labradork, Toby.

Listen to one of Lisa’s local podcasts on Radio Ojai, where she hosts music and talk of the Central Coast.