Starting around the age of six, Rachael Waechter would leave handwritten “books” around her parent’s house, hoping to find a willing audience to read them. Now, twenty years later, she’s releasing her first novel, “Playing with Fire,” still hoping to find a willing audience to read her work.

Having entered the world the same year JK Rowling released “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” Rachael is, naturally, a lover of young adult fiction. The stories she embraced as a child were full of adventure, whimsy, romance, and bravery. But now, Rachael believes it is difficult to find new releases that stand the test of time, that look to inspire rather than indoctrinate. She hopes to bring her Catholic and conservative values into play as she builds worlds and crafts characters reminiscent of the books she read growing up. In her opinion, there is nothing more exciting than a book full of twists and turns, so that’s what she’s created with her first novel.

Rachael is a proud graduate of Hillsdale College, where she studied History and Rhetoric and Public Address. After college, she moved to Washington D.C., where she worked on European and Arctic policy issues for the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. She also served in the Trump administration, having been appointed to the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s protocol office.

When the administration ended, Rachael came into her current role at AmPhil, a leading provider of integrated professional services. She spends each day strengthening civil society by helping mission-driven schools, churches, and nonprofits flourish in their fundraising. Outside of work and writing her next novel, you can find her reading, baking a variety of treats, or practicing Highland dance.

After a brief stint across the pond, she returned to her home state of Michigan, where she now lives with her incredible husband, Joshua.