Hello diamond experts-in-training! My name is Dena Udren, and I was born and grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. I majored in English and history at the University of Michigan (go blue!) and then pursued my MSEd in secondary education at the University of Pennsylvania. After completing my degree, I stayed in Philly to teach English and social studies for two years. During my summer vacation, I traveled to Israel and met my husband. We got married in the summer of 2005, and have been in marital bliss ever since!

Writing and editing seemed like a natural fit, as I had quite a bit of training from teaching writing to my students and correcting their papers. Though I am not a fiction writer, I have often found myself writing essays or other non-fiction prose over the years, especially in response to political events. My first foray into writing came when I was a senior in high school and penned the column “Time Out for Teens” for the local Jewish newspaper.

More recently, I have worked as a newspaper and freelance editor, both for articles and manuscripts. In addition to writing web content for retail and educational sites, I have also worked in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  At Truth About Diamonds, I keep the Q&A’s updated, report on diamond-related news, and help maintain the site’s SEO.

My other main area of work is my family. My bosses are Zahava, 3.5, and Sara, 2, and they sure keep me busy!