Formerly of Islamorada, FL, Patti Lavell now lives in the Finger Lakes Region of the Empire State. She is the author of the memoir Confessions of a Catholic School Dropout (2012), the novel Fat Chance (2013), and has been a contributing writer for Florida Keys Free Press and Keywesting.com. Lavell was the coordinator of a police academy in the Florida Keys and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of a trucking company in New York.