An admitted discovery junky, Dawn spent 19 years in high tech as a software engineer, manager, and marketer, while working part-time as a photographer, graphic artist, papermaker, knitter, dress designer, writer, textile artist, marbler, sweater designer, pen-and-ink artist, singer, songwriter, and poet. In the middle of building a harpsichord from a kit, she discovered that through woodworking she could integrate all of these interests. Her charkas embody the spirit of Applied Chaos: many facets of her unusually rich life come together in each box.