It had to be fate. Not only did they share the same name and were the same age, Kari Sherman and Carey Laubenberg were both at a crossroads in their chosen professions. Kari Sherman, a CPA, had spent the last twenty plus years toiling away in the corporate world while Carey Laubenberg, a personal trainer, had successfully opened and managed a gym with her husband, Steve. Their chance meeting at the local dog park and their immediate friendship (brought about by their dogs’ instant chemistry) was the catalyst for their new journey into writing and publishing. A partnership was born through a shared outlook on life and a similar sense of humor.

While both authors are life- long dog lovers, Kari Sherman had recently welcomed her first dog, Max into her adult life after growing up with a progression of animals (both dogs and cats). In contrast, Carey had owned numerous dogs all throughout her life. Within a year of meeting, these two individuals wrote their first book, discovered the joys and pitfalls of self-publishing, created a website and embraced all that social media had to offer. This was quite a feat for two people with no background in writing and a latent dread of the intimacy that current technology has brought to the world. Once started down their new career path, the two budding authors have enthusiastically embraced all the knowledge and opportunity this had afforded them. Kari and Carey’s mantra has been “Go Big or Go Home” while navigating the marketing options on the release of their first book “True tails from the Dog Park”. If truth be told, they have placed a long shot bet and hope that their horse will come in!