Toni Sciarra Poynter is an editorial consultant and published author with more than 25 years¿ experience in nonfiction book publishing. She has held positions at HarperCollins Publishers, William Morrow, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan, where she worked with bestselling authors, respected brands, and prominent professionals. While still an editor, she got the idea to write a book on the first years of marriage when she became a newlywed. From This Day Forward: Meditations on the First Years of Marriage was published by HarperSanFrancisco (1995 hardcover) and Andrews McMeel (1998 trade paperback), with a new edition, retitled Now and Forever, issued by Loyola in 2004. It was educational to go through the publishing experience from "the other side" as an author, including doing TV and radio appearances and book signings. A favorite most-panicked moment for her: Standing early one gray morning in the parking lot of a local TV station banging frantically on the locked door as everyone was in the studio for the live morning show she was slated to appear on, while the seconds before her spot ticked by! Since 2008 Toni has been consulting full-time on various nonfiction projects, including the book she coauthored with retired FBI special agent Joe Navarro: Louder Than Words: Take Your Career from Average to Exceptional with the Hidden Power of Nonverbal Intelligence (HarperBusiness), which was illustrated by her husband. She worked on the words in one room, while he worked on the pictures in the other. Poynter has spoken at publishing conferences andcourses, including American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), American Psychological Association (with ASJA), National Speakers Association (NSA) Writers Conference, New York University School of Continuing Education, New York University Medical Center, City College of New York, and the Southwest Writers Workshop.

She is a member of the Consulting Editors Alliance, Women¿s Media Group (WMG), Women in Publishing, and the Authors Guild, and she serves on the Executive Committee of the Books for a Better Life Awards from inception (1997) to the present. She lives in New York City with her husband and their little black cat, Lucy, who supervises all from her fleece bed in the center of the apartment.