Shelia Chapman
Shelia was born in Louisiana, USA and was brought up 'out in the sticks' near the town of Hornbeck.
As a child she was heavily influenced by her grandparents. From her grandfather she acquired an interest in things mechanical, and from her grandmother she learnt cooking skills and patience.
Her career started in respiratory therapy, where she acquired an interest in things medical. When her department closed down however, she was forced to look for other employment. She took jobs in a clothing factory, as a clerk for an electric company; where she learnt to type, worked for a while with her mother in a flower shop they ran and with her father in a salvage yard.
In the 1980s she acquired her first computer - a TRS-80; and in 1997 discovered the Internet. It was in a Yahoo chat room that she met John and as a result crossed the Atlantic to meet him. The UK immediately made two major impressions on Shelia; first it was green and second that there was a wide 'culture gap' between the UK and US.
Shelia and John married in 1999 while living in Ontario, Canada. At the time life was a struggle, to make ends meet they worked in shifts on the computer with Shelia doing much of the research, graphics and typing while John did the programming and design.
When in 2001 Shelia and John returned to the UK, life became easier. Although their web design business, JayDax.co.uk was kept, their main income came from John's teaching job. Shelia found herself with time on her hands and started to write.
A Vested Interest was commenced by Shelia on 10th March 2007 being modeled on her life in the US and movement to the UK.
