About

Pauline Baecker still loves this world and wants to make a better one. A two-time immigrant, she has lived on three continents and worked for Chinese, American, and German companies. She began her own venture, A Light Circle, on social media to better envision abundance, realistic utopias, and more hopeful futures through art and writing. Born in the Philippines, she immigrated to the US as a child, growing up in Chicago and Seattle, and moved to Germany in her twenties. She has a B.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Visual Art from the University of Washington, graduating with honors. Based in Berlin and North Carolina, she continues to travel the world and expand home with her husband and two children.

My Kind of Vita (Informal Bio):

• Experience is as meaningful or meaningless as we make it. I want to honor the moments that are important to me, especially those not typically listed in a vita.
• My first novel, LAST DREAM, FIRST LIGHT, is set to be published in early 2026! Please follow me or subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to get it!
• 2024: Moved back to the USA after nearly 15 years in Europe.
• Present: currently finishing my first ever novel! More on that to come!
• 2021-2024: Revised and revised and revised my manuscript.
• 2021: Finished my first manuscript. Yes, it took 7 years to finish a draft I was happy with.
• 2020 – 2022: Took care of my family and homeschooled my children during a global pandemic.
• 2014: Began writing my first novel. 
• 2014: Created alightcircle blog, which had two nonfiction essays that went viral: The Mirror of Hate and The Center Everywhere.
• 2012 – 2014: Gave birth to two children. Began a lifelong dream of working for myself as a writer and artist.
• 2009 – 2013: Immigrated to Germany and learned a new language. Got married. Worked as an editor and translator for a German magazine on solar energy and as an English teacher at an international boarding school.
• Survived living in New York City on an office assistant’s wages.
• Fulfilled a lifelong dream of living in New York City.
• Listening to soothing, rhythmic music on a warm October night in Barcelona is wonderful. So is meeting your true love while dancing in the dark.
• 2008: Backpacked across Europe alone. 
• There’s a difference between being nice and being kind. I prefer kind.
• 1993 – 2008: Graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in English and Visual Art along with a minor in Art History and a passion for Anthropology, especially in challenging conventions and de-centering imperialist perspectives. Worked for an internet retailer, a Chinese book printer, the EPA, the EDA, a coffee company, and various restaurants.
• Racism and poverty are insidious problems that hold everyone back, not just the oppressed. History repeats itself, unless—well, you know the rest: “an eye for an eye,” “divide and conquer,” “those others are to blame for our problems.” No thanks, bitch. Also, violence does not solve anything.
• 1985 – 1993: Grew up in Chicago, the fifth of seven children to devout Catholics who became members of a doomsday cult. A doubter, a dreamer, an outsider, a melancholic, a worker, a wallower, a scribbler, a hugger, a passionate reader, and relentless dessert-maker.
• 1980: Born on a tiny tropical island in southwestern Philippines.
• What came before? And what comes after? You often forget that there may (or may not) be more.
• Live your life. Allow others to live their lives too.